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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08191934 6
IVO (CARROLLC Mac Lean
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IVO
HISTORY
OF
CARROLL COUNTY
IOWA
A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and
Achievement
By PAUL MACLEAN 1
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LI .. ... Y 99254B
R I. 41
INTRODUCTION
Some one, who lived too long ago for his age and identity to be clearly established-perhaps a Greek, more likely a Phoenecian, or still more likely a venerable Hindoo-gave expression to the sentiment about to be repeated ; a sentiment so instinct with truth that it has taken a place among the proverbs of all tongues comprehensive enough to admit of philosophie reflection and quoted here in the language of Carlyle :
"Happy is the country which is without annals." The simple life among nations is the happy life.
When nations begin to make history and set out upon a career of enter- prise and ambition they may grow to be rich in the luster which is shed upon princes and thrones and the seats of the mighty-on conquest and military achievement-and yet be poor indeed in those substantial elements which make for the freedom of the individual to follow undisturbed the tranquil and dutiful life in which there is content, and in the sum of which there is found a nation whose existence is really worthy. History commonly so- called is in reality much more a record of the calamities of mankind than of the small and silent events which in their operation within themselves and upon each other have brought the human race from benighted savagery to the condition of the present tolerable advancement and civilization.
To this point the world has grown in spite of "history," such as it is written, rather than by its aid, and the aid of those men and deeds which, while they crimson its pages, it enshrines for the admiration of the wor- shipful. The benign story of domestic quiet does not reach out and seize upon the imagination as do the tales of ambition, intrigue, passion and blood, but it sets the real landmarks of development-arrested but never quite suppressed under the historic bootheels which seek to force their way in to crush it!
We trust it is not turning to the other extreme to quote from two facile thinkers what may appear to be a criticism of our native state. Have we, in our retreat from the asperities of history making, unduly clung to the ways of peace and abandoned the virtues of prowess and stirring ambition, and become, as it were, commonplace and mediocre? We trust not. However, Hon. Irving B. Richman, President of the Iowa Library Association, in his recent annual address, reads and quotes as follows:
"But what, you will ask, with regard to Iowa? Let me not be thought ungracious when I say, that of all the states of the Union, Iowa has the least individuality, the least personality, is the least capable of being reduced to portraiture. More than any of the states, Iowa is a geographical expres-
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INTRODUCTION
sion merely. Some pointed things to this effect were said in 1900 by Rollin Lynde Hartt in the 'Atlantic Monthly.' Let me read you some of them.
"'It is all one,' says Helen,-the way of a tourist in Iowa and the way of a sailor man at sea. You wake up (and here I detect literary dependence upon Charles Dudley Warner) 'you wake up morning after morning to find yourself nowhere in particular.'
" 'Happy the people who have no history.' From prairie grass to wheat, from wheat to clover, from clover to corn, such are the short and simple annals of the Iowans.
" 'The sober truth is, the Iowans are an effect in drabs and grays. The state is too young for quaitness, too old for romance. Its people are so uniformly respectable that they will attempt nothing quixotic or piratical ; so prosily conventional that if by chance they do anything unusual, they undo it next day.'
""'You have here a high level, but-as Helen puts it-a dead level.'
" 'To see the Iowans at their best, go to the national capital, where if fortune favors, you will meet their Allisons and Hendersons, their Hep- burns, Gears, and Dollivers. Sound judgment, judicial sense, and executive ability,-these are the talents that lift them to power, talents neither rare nor little prized among the Iowans.'
"This last paragraph by Mr. Hartt is meant as a guarded compliment but the compliment is not guarded enough. Iowa did, I believe, once make to Economics an original contribution ; namely, her Granger legislation. But never since, (unless the present political situation constitutes an exception) has the state been more than commonplace ;- serenely and prosperously commonplace, I grant, but still commonplace. In internal respects, Iowa,
"'Along the cool, sequestered vale of life Has kept the noiseless tenor of her way.'
"There was once a hint of trouble with Missouri, but it came to so little as scarcely to be worthy of mention. Iowa annals have been enlivened by no Bacon's or Shay's or Dorr's rebellions ; by no Nullification or Hartford Conventions ; by no conventions against the Chinese. And the same is true of the state externally. In the councils of the nation she has been decently prominent but not conspicuous. Her representatives have been of respect- able ability, but none of them have been Thomas H. Bentons, Abraham Lincolns, Matt Carpenters, Andrew Jacksons or Henry Clays.
"But while Iowa as a political or social entity may not in its entirety be of any particular significance, and hence for historical purposes be little else than a geographical expression, Iowa as a bundle of localities bears a sig- nificance by no means to be underrated. Indeed, the state enters more com- pletely into solidarity with the nation through its local than through its gen- eral history. The Black Hawk War, for example, and the Spirit Lake Massacre connect us closely with the great struggle between the white man and the Indian for the possession of the continent. The presence of John Brown at Tabor and Springdale, preparing for the descent on Harper's Ferry, brings Iowans into intimate relation with the tragedy invoking the
INTRODUCTION
Civil War. The march of the Mormons from Nauvoo to Salt Lake has left in Decatur county an interesting memorial of a movement of large signi- ficance. Then again, the bandits along the Mississippi, with the murder of Colonel Davenport, give to the eastern counties a touch of that romance which in New Mexico, Arizona and California is associated with the des- perado and the Mexican."
Ah! "Iowa as a bundle of localities bears a significance!" etc, etc.
For this sentiment we are abundantly grateful to Mr. Richman, for it is as one of this "bundle of localities" that this History of Carroll County is written. If in the kindly toleration of readers who from whatever motive are tempted to peruse this work, there is found in it such merit as will repay the effort, it is because one "out of a bundle of localities" contributes a part toward that which when fashioned into a whole by some one with the genius and grace of mind for which such labor calls, may relieve the grays and drabs of Iowa with a plentitude of riches in portraiture and color.
Contents
CHAPTER I.
THE INDIANS OF THE EARLY TIMES-THEIR DISTRIBUTION AT THE TIME OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE-TRIBAL EXTINCTION OF THIE IOWAS AT IOWA- VILLE-INDIANS OF WESTERN IOWA IN 1856-MURDER OF SIOUX CIIIEF BY HENRY LOTT AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT LED TO THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE-HORRORS OF THE BUTCHERY AT SPIRIT LAKE AND OKOBOJI- INDIAN WAR PATH IN EASTERN CARROLL COUNTY-BUTRICK'S ADVEN- TURES AND THE KILLING OF THE LAST BUFFALO-TIIE INDIAN BATTLE AT CRESCENT LAKE BEFORE SETTLEMENT-SACS AND FOXES ENGAGE IN NOTABLE FIGHT WITH THE SIOUX TO AVENGE THE DELAWARES. I
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST HISTORIAN OF CARROLL COUNTY WRITES IN DES MOINES REGISTER IN 1867-CARROLL COUNTY TAKES ITS NAME FROM CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON-ANECDOTES OF THE MARYLAND STATESMAN AND WHY HE SIGNED AFTER HIS NAME THE NAME OF HIS PLANTATION-MANY SOUTH- ERNERS AMONG THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IOWA-CARROLL COUNTY OR- GANIZATION PROVIDED FOR BY ACT OF THE THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY- POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF STATE AT THE TIME-TIIE BOUNDARIES OF CARROLL COUNTY-THE CENSUS OF 1856-EMERGING FROM THE WILDER- NESS-THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER AND HIS TROUBLESOME PECULIARITY- ELECTION OF FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS-LIST OF THE VOTERS- ONLY SUR- 9 VIVOR OF FIRST ELECTION
CHAPTER III.
THE PARTICULAR IN WHICH CARROLL COUNTY EXCELS IS IN THE ABSENCE OF UNARABLE LANDS-TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL FEATURES-LOCATION ON MISSISSIPPI-MISSOURI DIVIDE, WHICHI TRAVERSES COUNTY-THE VARIOUS ALTITUDES-RIVERS AND STREAMS AND THEIR PECULIARITIES-NATURAL DRAINAGE AND PRESENT RECLAMATION PLANS-SPRING MOUNDS OF THE MIDDLE RACCOON-THEIR GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE-NATURE OF THE GEN- ERAL SOIL AND ITS GREAT FERTILITY-CARROLL COUNTY DRIFT-POSSIBLE COAL FIELD BUT NO DEVELOPMENT-MANNER IN WHICHI LAND TITLES WERE
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FIRST ACQUIRED-BIG RAILROAD GRANT-PAID FOR WITH CASH OR SOLDIERS WARRANTS-WHEAT THE IMPORTANT CROP AT FIRST-PRESENT CROPS- FIGURES INDICATING THE PRESENT WEALTH OF THE COUNTY-THE MODIFI- CATION OF THE CLIMATE. I9
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY-THE PIONEERS AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES -JUDGE CAIN CONVENED COUNTY COURT IN 1855-NATURE OF THE COURT AND THE SORT OF BUSINESS DISPOSED OF-THE LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT AT CARROLLTON ORDERED BY HON. H. E. SEARS-MISCELLANEOUS MAT- TERS OF EARLY HISTORY-THE FIRST TAX LEVY-SLOW INCREASE OF POPU- LATION-FIRST TERM OF STATE COURT IN 1858, MARSHAL F. MOORE, PRE- SIDING JUDGE-THE FIRST GRAND AND PETIT JURORS EMBODIED ENTIRE ADULT MALE POPULATION-CARROLL COUNTY'S SWAMP LAND GRANT- GIFT TO AID COUNTY IN ESTABLISHING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. . 27
CHAPTER V.
THE GREAT DEBT PILED UP AGAINST THE CARROLL COUNTY PUBLIC BY MAL- ADMINISTRATION-STATEMENT OF DEBT-DIRECTIONS IN WHICH FUNDS HAD BEEN DISSIPATED-O. H. MANNING'S DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION IN 1870-ILLEGAL ACTS OF COUNTY OFFICIALS-BOUNTY AND AID FRAUDS -CARROLLTON COURT HOUSE TRANSACTION-THE SWAMP LAND TRANSAC- TION-GRANTS OF BACK PAY-TREASURER'S STATEMENT OF 1866-SAME, 1867-BRIDGE TRANSACTIONS AND COUNTY LOANS-LEGALIZING ACTS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN VACATION-THE "PEACE AND HARMONY PACT"- HOW OFFICIAL ACTS WERE INVESTIGATED-THOMAS ELWOOD'S LITHO- GRAPHIC MAP-THE OLD COURT HOUSE AT CARROLLTON-OBSERVATIONS IN CONCLUSION-CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY .35
CHAPTER VI.
THE CITIZENS' RETRENCHMENT CONVENTION OF 1870-RESOLUTIONS DE- NOUNCING THE RECKLESS EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE PAST-PARTIAL VICTORY OF THE REFORMERS-THE FIRST TEACHERS' INSTITUTE-LAMBERT KNIEST'S ENTERPRISES-DEVASTATING TORNADO SWEEPS SECTION OF THE COUNTY- THE SECOND PEOPLES' CONVENTION-GROWTH OF THE COUNTY-DIVISION OF CARROLL TOWNSHIP-GUTHRIE & BOWMAN'S WHOLESALE SUCCESS IN COLONIZING THE RAW LANDS-GENERAL PHIL SHERIDAN'S VISIT TO CAR- ROLL-VALUATION OF PROPERTY IN 1871 BY TOWNSHIPS-REPUBLICAN VICTORY AT THE GENERAL ELECTION-DEATH OF GEO. N. YOUNG-GROWTH OF THE GRANGER MOVEMENT-ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY- CARROLL'S FIRST CRIMES-PANIC OF 1873-KENDALL'S MURDER-THE
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CONTENTS
PANIC AND THE SALE OF LAND-DEDICATION OF THE FIRST CHURCHI EDI- FICE IN CARROLL COUNTY-CONGREGATIONALISTS FIRST TO ERECT HOUSE OF WORSHIP-TRAGIC DEATII OF REV. HASTINGS-DEFALCATION OF COUNTY TREASURER PRICE-BIRTH OF ARCADIA-GRASSHOPPERS MAKE THEIR AP- PEARANCE-IOWA RAILROAD LAND COMPANY MAKES SETTLEMENT-DEDI- CATION OF M. E. CHURCH 55
CHAPTER VII.
THE REFORM MOVEMENT OF THE SEVENTIES-O. H. MANNING-E. R. IIAST- INGS-OTHERS ACTIVE IN THE TURNING DOWN OF THE "RING"-THE REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY SEAT TO CARROLL-GLIDDEN A CANDIDATE- BALLOT BOX STUFFING SUSPECTED-GERMANS DISAFFECTED TOWARD THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECAUSE OF PROHIBITION-THIE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND ITS REJECTION BY THE SUPREME COURT-CARROLL COUNTY'S FIRST REPRESENTATIVE-OTIIERS PROMINENT IN POLITICS-AT- TITUDE OF THE COUNTY ON THE LIQUOR QUESTION-ABSENCE OF PAUPERS AND UNIMPORTANT CRIMINAL HISTORY-ATTEMPTS AT ENFORCEMENT- PRESENT "WET" AND "DRY" TERRITORY 77
CHAPTER VIII.
SEVERE BLIZZARDS AND COLD PUT STOP TO RAILROAD TRAFFIC-GROSS BUSI- NESS OF THE NORTH WESTERN FOR 1874-ORGANIZATION OF FIRE COM- PANY-ODD FELLOWS CELEBRATE IN CARROLL-THE HAZING OF ANAMOSA -DEDICATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-FLOURING MILL AT CAR- ROLL-SURVEY OF THE MAPLE RIVER BRANCH-HILLSDALE SHOOTING AF- FRAY ENDS IN DEATH-THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE AND THE EFFORTS TO CIRCUMVENT IT-LITTLE REESE EVANS LOST AND DIES ON THE PRAIRIE- GLIDDEN EXPERIENCES FIRST BIG FIRE-A REMARKABLE DECEMBER-NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH WRECKED BY WINDS-BREDA SWEPT BY A DESTRUC- TIVE FIRE-REV. PALMER TAKES AN OVERDOSE OF CHLOROFORM-FISH IN NORTH COON DIE FROM EXCESSIVE HEAT-DEATH OF LAMBERT KNIEST- NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH DEDICATED-GREENBACKERS PUT UP A TICKET- DISASTROUS OCTOBER TORNADO TRAVERSES WEST SIDE OF COUNTY-EVIC- TION OF SETTLERS FROM "HOMESTEAD" LANDS IN AUDUBON COUNTY- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DEDICATION AT ARCADIA-ROBBERY OF C. L. CHRIS- TIAN-THE SOUTHWESTERN BRANCH-DEDICATION PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CARROLL-ARCADIA VISITED BY A $25,000 FIRE-NEW SCHOOL HOUSE AT CARROLL 83
CHAPTER IX.
THE GREAT CARROLL FIRE OF SEPTEMBER 25, 1879-TOWN BUILT ENTIRELY OF WOOD REDUCED TO DEBRIS IN A FEW HOURS-THE CONFLAGRATION ORIG- INATED IN A SALOON BUT THE EXACT CAUSE WAS NEVER KNOWN, PROBABLY THE RESULT OF CARELESSNESS OR ACCIDENT-NO MEANS AT HAND TO
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CONTENTS
RESIST THE DESTRUCTION-THE ENTIRE BUSINESS PORTION OF THE TOWN LAID IN RUINS-MUCH VALUABLE PROPERTY SAVED BY RESCUERS, HOW- EVER-CITY COUNCIL MEETS AFTER THE DISASTER AND PASSES AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING FIRE LIMITS-THE NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD MAKES VALUABLE CONCESSIONS TO THE SUFFERERS-SEVEN WEEKS LATER THE TOWN IS FAIRLY RESTORED AND BUSINESS RESUMED WITH AN ACTIVITY UNKNOWN TO THE OLD TOWN. 107
CHAPTER X.
THE INDICTMENT OF GEO. EFFERTS AND PETER NEW FOR STARTING THE CAR- ROLL FIRE OF 1879-THE NEW RAILROADS FROM CARROLL TO KIRKMAN AND AUDUBON-THE 1880 DEBT STATEMENT OF CARROLL COUNTY-REMOVAL OF HOYT BUILDING FROM CARROLL FIRE LIMITS-NARROW ESCAPE OF C. C. COLCLO FROM DROWNING-ORGANIZATION OF JEFF C. DAVIS POST AT CAR- ROLL-INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF MANNING-DISASTROUS FIRE AT MANNING-NEW TOWN OF TEMPLETON-DEDHAM-COON RAPIDS-THE MURDER OF THOMAS MAHER AT ARCADIA BY THOMAS FAY-THE BIG GLID- DEN FIRE OF CHRISTMAS EVE-COL. COOKE ELECTED DEPARTMENT COM- MANDER OF THE G. A. R .- LYNCHING OF TEXAS DESPERADOES AT HARLAN -FIRE CAUSES LARGE WASTE OF ARCADIA PROPERTY-THE HANGING OF OLD MAN JELLERSON AND ITS RESULTS-DEFALCATION OF COUNTY TREASURER W. R. RUGGLES-GRADUAL TREND OF CARROLL COUNTY FROM REPUBLICAN TO DEMOCRATIC PREDILECTIONS-RUGGLES' BONDSMEN MUST
119 PAY
CHAPTER XI.
THE LYNCHING OF THE JELLERSON MURDERERS AT AUDUBON-THE ELEC- TION OF W. L. CULBERTSON AND JOHN K. DEAL AS REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR-A HISTORIC BLIZZARD BY WHICH CARROLL WAS FOR A WEEK OUT OF THE WORLD-THE BURNING OF THE OLD COURT HOUSE-THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN OF COON RAPIDS BY A TORNADO-DEATH OF EUGENE R. HASTINGS-AFTER MANY DEFEATS THE PROPOSITION TO ISSUE BONDS TO BUILD A NEW COURT HOUSE AND JAIL CARRIES BY A LARGE MAJORITY-BOARD OF SUPERVISORS LETS THE CONTRACT-DEATH OF CAPTAIN WINNETT-UNION LABOR PARTY RISES AND FALLS-DEATH OF FATHER FENDRICK-THE PROHIBITORY LIQUOR LAW BECOMES EFFECTIVE IN CARROLL-THE OUTBREAK OF BOOZE JOINTS AND THE STRAITS OF THE CITY FOR REVENUE-DOLLIVER NOMINATED AND HIS MAIDEN SPEECH AT CARROLL A JOINT DEBATE WITH CAPTAIN YEOMANS-FATAL SHOOTING OF HUNTER BY CONSTABLE JAMES MOLSEED-ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING OF WM. EIKE BY AGENT ISH AT IIALBUR-NOMINATION OF JUDGE Z. A. CHURCH AND HIS DEFEAT BY THOMAS RICH I35
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER XII.
THE BEGINNING OF GERMAN SETTLEMENT IN 1867 AT MT. CARMEL-COLONI- ZATION PROJECT OF LAMBERT KNIEST-BUILDING OF THE FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH AT MT. CARMEL-DIFFICULTIES OF THE EARLY DAYS-THE NEW CHURCH AND AFFILIATED UTILITIES AT MT. CARMEL-REV. JOSEPH KUEM- PER AND HIS RELATIONS TO THE CARROLL CHURCH AND CONNECTED INSTI- TUTIONS-ST. ANTHONY'S HOSPITAL-ST. ANGELE'S DOMESTIC SCIENCE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS-ST. JOSEPHI'S PARISH, CARROLL-MAPLE RIVER PARISII LATELY ESTABLISHED-CHRONOLOGY OF MT. CARMEL PARISH, ROSELLE PAR- ISH, WILLEY PARISH, BREDA PARISH-REV. B. A. SCHULTE'S WORK OF CHURCH AND PARISH BUILDING IN THE TOWNS ALONG THE MILWAUKEE RAILROAD IN SOUTHERN CARROLL COUNTY-TEMPLETON AND COON RAPIDS PARISHES ESTABLISHED IN 1884-ST. AUGUSTINE'S PARISH AT HALBUR. 149
CHAPTER XIII.
CARROLL COUNTY OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION-ITS ORIGIN, PURPOSE, AND PRESENT HIGH STANDING-ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION THE MOST IMPORTANT LOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR-MEETING TO ORGANIZE, JULY 25, 1895-J. W. HOBBS, FIRST CHAIRMAN-THE ELECTION OF PERMANENT OFFICERS-FIRST OFFICERS AND TOWNSHIP VICE PRESIDENTS-FIRST AN- NUAL MEETING AT CARROLL, AUGUST 1, 1895-GOOD ATTENDANCE-PRO- CEEDINGS OF THE OCCASION-ADDRESS OF WM. GILLEY-CONSTITUTION OF THE ORGANIZATION-CHARTER MEMBERS I59
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES-ABSENCE OF LEGAL MACHIN- ERY AND ITS EFFECTS-ANAMOSA A VICTIM OF NIGHT RIDERS, WHO ABAN- DON HIM ON THE PRAIRIE-EXPERIENCE OF WIFE BEATER MAY HAVE BEEN A ROUGH PRACTICAL JOKE-ADVENT OF W. AUGUST FONDA, AN EC- CENTRIC CHARACTER-FONDA DRIVEN FROM OMAHA IN LABOR WAR- BOGUS NATURE OF THE MAN-ABDUCTED BY UNKNOWN MASKED MEN AT CARROLL- TRIP TO STORM CREEK BOTTOM-FUNERAL CEREMONIES EN- ACTED-HORSEMAN INTERRUPTS MIDNIGHT RITES-FONDA FREE
AND FINDS HIS WAY TO GLIDDEN-TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO CARROLL-THE ELLIOTT EPISODE-OSTENSIBLE MAN AND WIFE COME TO CARROLLTON- ADVENT OF REAL HUSBAND ELLIOTT ORDERED TO GO AND RETURN AT HIS PERIL-HUSBAND AND WIFE REUNITED-SETTLERS' POSSE ESCORT COUPLE TO RAILROAD AND SPEED THEIR DEPARTURE. 165
CHAPTER XV.
RADICAL MODIFICATION OF CLIMATE COMES WITH SETTLEMENT-WINTER'S BLIZZARDS AND SUMMER'S TORNADOES-SAM TODD'S STORY OF AN EARLY DAY TRAGEDY-PARTY FROM HILLSDALE VISITS CARROLL AND IS CAUGHT BY MARCH STORM-FOUR OF THE PARTY REACH HOME IN SAFETY-FOUR
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DRIFT WITH THE STORM AND ARE LOST-BLIZZARD CONTINUES THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS-CHARACTER OF THE STORM-AFTER IT SUBSIDES RES- CUE PARTY IS ORGANIZED TO LOOK FOR THE MISSING MEN-TWO BODIES FOUND FROZEN STIFF UNDER BOX OF SLED-BROTHERS PERISH ON THE CARROLLTON-HILLSDALE TRAIL-HORSES FOUND ALIVE BUT CRAZED WITH SUFFERING AND EXPOSURE-CLOSING OF THE TRAGEDY. 175
CHAPTER XVI.
LAD'S FIRST IMPRESSION OF CARROLL COUNTY-DREARY RIDE FROM RAILROAD TO NEW HOME IN GLIDDEN TOWNSHIP-CARROLL COUNTY IN 1868-THE EARLY SETTLERS-HOW THE YOUNG PEOPLE ENJOYED THEMSELVES-DR. MILLER'S TOP BUGGY-THE FIRST GOLD WATCH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD -EXCITEMENT OF EARLY POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS-EARLY RELIGIOUS OB- SERVANCES-LAND VALUES IN 1876-CROP FAILURES AND GRASSHOPPERS -SCARCITY OF MONEY AMONG THE SETTLERS AND HIGH INTEREST RATES -FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND WEALTH NOT AMONG THE DREAMS OF THE PIONEERS 18I
CHAPTER XVII.
ORLANDO H. MANNING POINTS OUT FEATURES IN WHICH CARROLL COUNTY IS FAVORED BEYOND OTHERS-THE AFFINITY OF THE LOESS OR BLUFF DEPOSIT TO THE SOILS OF THE RHINE, NILE AND YELLOW RIVER VALLEYS-THE GREAT DEPTH AND PERMANENT FERTILITY OF THE MISSOURI RIVER ALLU- VIUM-THE ADVANTAGES OF THE COUNTY DERIVED FROM SADDLING THE TRANS-CONTINENTAL DIVIDE-THE LOSS TO EASTERN AGRICULTURAL LANDS FROM THE TRITURATING ACTION OF RAINS AND FLOODS-CORN AS KING OF AMERICAN CROPS AND THE UNDEVELOPED USES TO WHICH ITS PRODUCTS MAY BE APPLIED-MR. MANNING PARTLY APPLIES OLD "MIS" MEANS' AD- VICE : "GIT A-PLINTY WHILE Y'U ARE A-GITTIN' " 187
CHAPTER XVIII.
GOVERNORS OF IOWA FROM 1846 TO THE PRESENT-CONTRIBUTION OF THE STATE TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE-MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM THE DISTRICTS TO WHICH CARROLL COUNTY HAS BEEN ATTACHED-JUDGES OF THE DISTRICT AND CIRCUIT COURTS AND THE DISTRICTS TO WHICH CARROLL COUNTY HAS BEEN ATTACHED-SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE, WITH THE SENATORIAL AND REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS TO WIIICH CARROLL COUNTY HAS BEEN ATTACHED-PRESENT FORM OF ORGAN- IZATION CONTINUOUS FROM 1884-LIST OF COUNTY OFFICIALS FROM DATE OF ORGANIZATION ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 19I
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER-THE ENTERPRISE-THE WESTERN HERALD-THE CAR- ROLL HERALD- THIE CARROLL SENTINEL-TIIE CARROLL TIMES-TIIE CAR- ROLL DEMOKRAT-THE CARROLL NEWS-THE FARM JOURNALTHE GLIDDEN SENTINEL-THE GLIDDEN SUCCESS-TIIE GLIDDEN GRAPHIC-THE MANNING MONITOR-THE MANNING IIEROLD THE MANNING NEWS- THE MANNING FREE PRESS-THE COON RAPIDS ENTERPRISE-THE COON RAPIDS CITIZEN-THE COON RAPIDS REPORTER-TIIE BREDA WATCHMAN -THE BREDA NEWS-THE BREDA OSTFRIESISCHE NACHRICHTEN-WELL KNOWN NEWSPAPER MEN 2II
CHAPTER XX.
EDUCATIONAL-THE FIRST SCHOOL TAUGHT IN CARROLL COUNTY-MISS JANE M'CURDY, THE FIRST TEACHER-THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS-SUPERINTEND- ENTS-SCHOOL DISTRICTS-THE COST OF SUSTAINING SCHOOLS-PARO- CHIAL SCHOOLS-ABSTRACT OF INFORMATION PERTAINING TO CITY AND TOWN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 219
CHAPTER XXI.
RAILROADS-CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN RAILROAD THE CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY-THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILROAD- THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST RAILROAD. .... . 225
CHAPTER XXII.
AGRICULTURAL-CARROLL COUNTY IN ITS PHYSICAL FORMATION-LOCATED IN THE NOTED CORN BELT OF IOWA-FINE STOCK IN THE COUNTY-TOTAL NUMBER OF FARMS-THE PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS RAISED. ... 231
CHAPTER XXIII.
CARROLL-THE TOWN LAID OUT-THE FIRST BUILDING ERECTED-THE FIRST BUSINESS MEN-THE FIRST CITY OFFICERS-THE CENSUS FROM 1869 TO 1910-MAYORS-POSTMASTERS-COUNTY OFFICES MOVED TO CARROLL- THE PRESENT COURTIIOUSE-MEN PROMINENT IN BUSINESS AND POLITI- CAL AFFAIRS-THE HIGH SCHOOL-NORMAL TRAINING DEPARTMENT- PUBLIC LIBRARY .233 .
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CHAPTER XXIV.
OTHER TOWNS OF CARROLL COUNTY-MANNING-COON RAPIDS-GLIDDEN- ARCADIA-HALBUR-RALSTON-LANESBORO-LIDDERDALE-DEDHAM-TEM- PLETON-BREDA-CARROLLTON-AND OTHER INLAND TOWNS. .241
CHAPTER XXV.
THE WHEATLAND TOWNSHIP GERMAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. .. .. 249
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(TR
CARROLL COUNTY COURTHOUSE
History of Carroll County
CHAPTER I.
THE INDIANS OF THE EARLY TIMES-THEIR DISTRIBUTION AT THE TIME OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE-TRIBAL EXTINCTION OF THE IOWAS AT IOWA- VILLE-INDIANS OF WESTERN IOWA IN 1856-MURDER OF SIOUX CHIEF BY HENRY LOTT AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT LED TO THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE-HORRORS OF THE BUTCHERY AT SPIRIT LAKE AND OKOBOJI- INDIAN WAR PATH IN EASTERN CARROLL COUNTY-BUTRICK'S ADVEN- TURES AND THE KILLING OF THE LAST BUFFALO-THE INDIAN BATTLE AT CRESCENT LAKE BEFORE SETTLEMENT-SACS AND FOXES ENGAGE IN NOTABLE FIGHT WITH THE SIOUX TO AVENGE THE DELAWARES.
There was small resistance to the conquest of Iowa by the whites from the Indian tenants, and the movement was attended by little of the cruelty and war which followed the advent of the European invaders in other portions of America.
Three hundred years of sturdy but unavailing opposition to the advance had exhausted the original fierce and unyielding courage of the Indians and impressed them with the gloomy conviction that further resistance was useless. Nation after nation of their ancestors had been vanquished in the unequal contest. Step by step they had been dispossessed of their homes and hunting grounds and the most powerful of their tribes save those of the western plains had been engulfed and disappeared in the warfare. Their original lands had long been peopled by the Caucasian pioneer and woodsman, who forced them on by a slow but fatal pressure across the Mississippi, where their home was a fleeting one in their journey to the still further west.
At the time of the Louisiana purchase, in April, 1703, the Sacs and Foxes occupied the upper territory along the Mississippi river. The aboriginal home of the Foxes was in the state of Rhode Island. As they were forced west by the pressure of civilization they formed permanent relations with the Sac Indians of Wisconsin, and at the time of their emigration to Iowa the two nations had become one. The southeastern portion of the state was occupied by the Iowas. This nation has been traced through many migrations. In 1690 the Iowas were found in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, whence they were led across the Mississippi by their chief Manhawgaw, occupying the country about the lower valley of
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY
the Iowa river. Lewis and Clark in the journal of their explorations in 1804 refer to this tribe of Indians as the Ayouways, a name signifying, "This is the place." The tribe was almost exterminated by the Sacs and Foxes in 1824 at Iowaville, where they had assembled in large numbers to witness a horse race and where they were surprised and men, women and children put to death in the most horrible massacre of which the soil of Iowa has ever been the witness. The butchery was planned by Mahaska to avenge the death of his father, which he laid upon the unfortunate tribe. Young Black Hawk was in command of a division of the Indians and had a part in the plundering and burning which followed the sur- render of the small remnant of braves who escaped the furious onslaught. The surviving wives and children of the Iowas were made captive by their conquerors, and from this time, so complete was the ruin, the tribe ceased to have an independent existence. A portion of southern Iowa was occupied by the Algonquin Indians, who were early known in the lake region of northern New York. Central and northwestern Iowa were at this time the home of the Dacotas or Sioux. These were the great nations of Iowa in the early part of the last century, but they were split up into numerous tribes which assumed a degree of independence and were recognized by tribal names. The power of the Sacs and Foxes in eastern Iowa was broken with the Black Hawk war. Later they sold a strip of land from their territory sixty miles west from the Mississippi along the whole course of the river in Iowa, from which limits the nation gradually receded under pressure of white settlement until in the forties and fifties their reservation impinged on that of the Sioux and Pottawot- tamies in northwestern Iowa.
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