USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 1
USA > Iowa > Emmet County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
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HISTORY
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OF 1
EMMET COUNTY
AND DICKINSON COUNTY IOWA
A RECORD OF SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION, PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENT
ยท
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE PIONEER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1917
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 834037 ASTOR LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1918 L
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
LOCATION-LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE-BOUNDARIES AND AREA-GENERAL SURFACE-RIVERS AND CREEKS-THE LAKES-THE PRAIRIES GEOLOGY -THE GLACIAL EPOCH-HOW THE SURFACE OF IOWA WAS FORMED- CHARACTER OF THE DRIFT-THE WATER SUPPLY-GEOLOGICAL STRUC- TURE AS SHOWN BY DEEP WELL RECORDS-ALTITUDE OF SPIRIT LAKE, 1 ESTHERVILLE AND ARMSTRONG.
CHAPTER II THE FIRST INHABITANTS
THE MOUND BUILDERS-DESCRIPTION OF THEIR RELICS-EARLY INVESTI- GATORS-MOUND BUILDERS' DISTRICTS-WHO WERE THEY ?- THE IN- DIANS-DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN GROUPS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY-THE IOWA-THE SAC AND FOX-BLACK HAWK AND KEOKUK-OTHER SAC AND FOX CHIEFS-POTAWATOMI-WINNE- BAGO-PRINCIPAL TRIBES OF THE SANTEE SIOUX-MDEWAKANTON- SISSETON-WAHPECUTE-WAHPETON 15
CHAPTER III THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION
THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN-EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA-STRENGTH- ENING SPANISH CLAIMS-WORK OF THE ENGLISH-FRENCH EXPLORA- TIONS-MARQUETTE AND JOLIET-LA SALLE'S EXPEDITIONS-SETTLE- MENT OF LOUISIANA-CONFLICTING INTERESTS-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR-CLARK'S CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST-NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI-THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE-TREATY OF PARIS-EXPLOR- ING THE NEW PURCHASE-ACQUISITION OF THE INDIAN LANDS-TREATY OF 1804-THE NEUTRAL GROUND -- TREATY OF 1830-TREATY OF 1832- TREATY OF 1842-TREATY OF TRAVERSE DES SIOUX. 35
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CHAPTER IV -
MILITARY HISTORY
CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE CIVIL WAR-THE SLAVERY QUESTION-THE MIS- SOURI COMPROMISE-THE OMNIBUS BILL-KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL- POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860-SECESSION-FALL OF FORT SUMTER- LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS -- SENTIMENT IN IOWA-GOVERNOR KIRKWOOD'S PROCLAMATION-ANSWERING THE CALL -ON THE FRONTIER-CAPTAIN MARTIN'S COMPANY-MINUTE MEN- SIOUX CITY CAVALRY --- NORTHERN BORDER BRIGADE-GENERAL ORDERS NO. 1-FORT DEFIANCE-COMPANY F-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR-FIFTY- SECOND IOWA INFANTRY 61
CHAPTER V SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION
VARIOUS JURISDICTIONS-TERRITORY OF IOWA-STATEHOOD-THE ORGANIC ACT-THE FIRST SETTLERS-AN EARLY DAY TRAGEDY-INDIAN SCARE OF 1857-ORGANIZING EMMET COUNTY-THE FIRST ELECTION-LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT-REMOVAL TO SWAN LAKE-BACK TO ESTHERVILLE- THE FIRST COURT-HOUSE-THE PRESENT COURT-HOUSE-CORRECTING THE RECORD-INCIDENTS OF EARLY DAYS. 80
CHAPTER VI PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK
THEN AND NOW-PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS-HARDWARE A LUXURY- NONE WORE "STORE CLOTHES"-AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES-PER- SONAL MENTION-TRAPPING IN EARLY DAYS-THE OLD TRAPPER'S SOLILOQUY 95
CHAPTER VII TOWNSHIP HISTORY
ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP-CONGRESSIONAL AND CIVIL TOWNSHIPS-FIRST TOWNSHIPS IN IOWA-EMMET COUNTY A PART OF JULIEN TOWNSHIP- GOVERNOR LUCAS' MESSAGE-THE TWELVE CIVIL TOWNSHIPS OF EMMET COUNTY - ARMSTRONG GROVE - CENTER - DENMARK - ELLSWORTH- EMMET-ESTHERVILLE-HIGH LAKE-IOWA LAKE-JACK CREEK-LIN- COLN-SWAN LAKE-TWELVE MILE LAKE-HISTORICAL INCIDENTS CON- NECTED WITH EACH - PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS - RAILROADS- SCHOOLS-POPULATION AND WEALTH 108
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CHAPTER VIII CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
SPECULATION IN EARLY DAYS-FATE OF EARLY TOWNS-ARMSTRONG- BUBONA - DOLLIVER - EMMET GROVE-ESTHERVILLE-INCORPORATING THE TOWNS-CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS-WATER AND LIGHT-SEWER SYSTEM-FIRE DEPARTMENT-CITY HALL AND FIRE STATION-POST- OFFICE-ESTHIERVILLE TODAY-FORSYTH-GRIDLEY-GRUVER-HALFA- HIGH LAKE-HOPRIG-HUNTINGTON-MAPLE HILL-RALEIGH-RING- STED-SWAN LAKE-WALLINGFORD 123
CHAPTER IX FINANCE AND INDUSTRY
PUBLIC FINANCES-BONDED DEBT-VALUE OF THE SECURITIES-BANKING- IOWA BANKING LAWS-ESTHERVILLE BANKS-ARMSTRONG BANKS-DOL- LIVER BANKS-RINGSTED BANKS-MISCELLANEOUS BANKS-AGRICUL- TURE-CROP STATISTICS-LIVE STOCK-THE DAIRY INDUSTRY-FARM IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION - SHORT COURSES - MANUFACTURING- ESTHERVILLE MINING COMPANY-TELEPHONE COMPANIES 141
CHAPTER X - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
INDIAN TRAILS-TRAVEL IN EARLY DAYS-PUBLIC HIGHWAYS-AFTER THE FIRE-STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION-COUNTY ROADS UNDER THE LAW OF 1913-RURAL FREE DELIVERY-UTILIZING THE GRAVEL BEDS-THE RAILROAD ERA-A WISE SCHOOL BOARD-DES MOINES VALLEY RAILROAD- EARLY STATE LINES-MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL & UNION PACIFIC-FORT DODGE & FORT RIDGELY-BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN- CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL-CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN-MINN- EAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS-ROCK ISLAND BRANCH LINES-VALUE OF RAILROAD PROPERTY-DRAINAGE 160
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CHAPTER XI EDUCATION IN EMMET COUNTY. THE PRESS AND THE LIBRARY.
THE FIRST SCHOOLS-SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN ESTHERVILLE-SCHOOL LANDS- SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION-STATISTICS OF CONSOLIDATED DISTRICTS, INDE- PENDENT TOWN AND CITY DISTRICTS AND SCHOOL TOWNSHIPS-THE FIRST NEWSPAPER-THE VINDICATOR AND REPUBLICAN-THE ESTHER- VILLE DEMOCRAT-THE ESTHERVILLE ENTERPRISE-THE ARMSTRONG JOURNAL - THE RINGSTED DISPATCH - THE ESTHERVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 176
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CHAPTER XII LAW AND MEDICINE
EVOLUTION OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT-PURPOSE OF THE COURTS THE LAWYER AS A CITIZEN-TERRITORIAL COURTS-THE DISTRICT COURT-ITS HIS- TORY-ITS JUDGES-THE CIRCUIT COURT-COUNTY ATTORNEYS-THE BAR-BAR ASSOCIATIONS.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION-MEDICINE IN ANCIENT TIMES-THE PIONEER DOCTOR-HIS HARDSHIPS-HIS STANDING IN THE COMMUNITY-SOME EARLY PHYSICIANS OF EMMET COUNTY-MEDICAL SOCIETIES-EMMET COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-LIST OF PRESENT DAY PHYSICIANS. 184
CHAPTER XIII THE CHURCHES OF EMMET COUNTY
HISTORY OF THE CHURCHES IN ESTHERVILLE-THE EARLY HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCHES IN ARMSTRONG TOWN-RINGSTED CHURCHES-OTHER CHURCHES IN EMMET COUNTY, INCLUDING THOSE OF WALLINGFORD, DOLLIVER AND HUNTINGTON 194
CHAPTER XIV SOCIETIES AND FRATERNITIES
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-FAIR ASSOCIATION-MASONIC FRATERNITY-ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR-INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS-DAUGH- TERS OF REBEKAH-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS-PYTHIAN SISTERS-GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS-THE ELKS-DEN- MARK'S MINDE-MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES-WOMEN'S CLUBS-THE P. E. O .- DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 203
CHAPTER XV BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS
LITTLE NEED FOR CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS IN EARLY DAYS-THE POOR FARM -ESTHERVILLE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES - HOSPITALS - CEME- TERIES 217
CHAPTER XVI MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY
MOSQUITOES IN EARLY DAYS-A DOG PHILOSOPHER-A MIRACLE-ORIGIN OF THE WORD BLIZZARD-A MYSTERIOUS MURDER-PRAIRIE FIRES-A SA- LOON WAR-GRASSHOPPERS-AN AEROLITE-DISASTROUS FIRES-TWO NOTED SONS-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT-FROZEN TO DEATH. 222
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CHAPTER XVII STATISTICAL REVIEW
POPULATION AS SHOWN BY THE UNITED STATES CENSUS SINCE 1860- WEALTH AND PROGRESS OFFICIAL ROSTER-LIST OF COUNTY OFFICERS SINCE 1877-THE LEGISLATURE-CONGRESSMEN 234
CHAPTER XVIII. EARLY SETTLEMENT OF DICKINSON COUNTY.
FIRST DESCRIPTION AND EXPLORATIONS-FIRST SETTLEMENTS-SETTLEMENTS AFTER THE MASSACRE THE BUILDING OF THE FORT-SUBSEQUENT SETTLEMENTS SPIRIT LAKE CLAIM CLUB-THE FIRST POSTOFFICE- EMIGRATION IN 1858 - BLACKBIRDS - THE MILL CONTROVERSY - FURTHER SETTLEMENTS A PERIOD OF DEPRESSION-NEW HOPES- FIRST EVENTS AND VITAL STATISTICS-PIONEER CUSTOMS AND HARD- SHIPS-FUEL-TRAPPING-THE HOMESTEAD AND PREEMPTION LAWS_247
CHAPTER XIX. ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT OF DICKINSON COUNTY.
ORGANIZATION-C. F. HILL'S LETTER-JUDICIAL ELECTION-FIRST TERM OF THE DISTRICT COURT-THE COUNTY JUDGE-SUPERVISORS-GOVERN- MENT SURVEYS-COUNTY OFFICERS: COUNTY JUDGES, TREASURER AND RECORDER, TREASURERS, RECORDERS, DISTRICT COURT CLERKS, AUDITORS, SHERIFFS, COUNTY ATTORNEYS, SURVEYORS, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS, CORONERS, SUPERVISORS-THE COURT HOUSE-JAIL-THE COUNTY HOME-SWAMP LANDS. 270
CHAPTER XX DICKINSON COUNTY TOWNSHIPS
FORMATION OF TOWNSHIPS-SPIRIT LAKE TOWNSHIP SETTLEMENT-OKO- BOJI TOWNSHIP-TUSCULUM TOWNSHIP-CENTER GROVE TOWNSHIP- LAKEVILLE TOWNSHIP-RICHLAND TOWNSHIP-LLOYD TOWNSHIP- DIAMOND LAKE TOWNSHIP-SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP-SILVER LAKE TOWN- SHIP-MILFORD TOWNSHIP-EXCELSIOR TOWNSHIP-WESTPORT TOWN- SHIP 282
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CHAPTER XXI THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE
THE MASSACRE AND THE EVENTS WHICH LED UP TO IT.
INKPADUTAH-WHY INKPADUTAH DESIRED REVENGE-EVENTS ALONG THE LITTLE SIOUX RIVER-AT SMITHLAND-AT PETERSON-AT GILLETT'S GROVE-APPEALS FOR HELP-THE INDIANS ARRIVE AT THE LAKES THE FIRST MORNING-THE'START OF THE MASSACRE-FATE OF THE MATTOCK HOUSEHOLD-AT THE HOWE CABIN-MURDERS AT THE THATCHER HOME-WILLIAM MARBLE'S DEATH-THE INDIANS LEAVE A RECORD __ 289
CHAPTER XXII THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE (Continued)
AFTERMATH OF THE MASSACRE AND THE EXPEDITION MORRIS MARKHAM'S RETURN-FORMING THE EXPEDITION-THE START- SPRINGFIELD REFUGEES-THE BURIALS-THE RETURN-LIEUTENANT MAXWELL'S ACCOUNT-GOV. C. C. CARPENTER'S ACCOUNT-FROM W. K. LAUGHLIN'S ACCOUNT 304
CHAPTER XXIII. THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE (Continued.)
DEPREDATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND THE FATE OF THE CAP- TIVES. DISAPPEARANCE OF THE INDIANS.
THE AFFAIR AT SPRINGFIELD-THE TROOPS ARRIVE-THE INDIANS FLEE- MURDER OF MRS. THATCHER-MRS. MARBLE'S RELEASE-THE DEATH OF MRS. NOBLE-PREPARATIONS FOR RESCUE-ABBIE GARDNER'S RELEASE- GOVERNMENT LACK OF SYMPATHY-ATTEMPTS TO CAPTURE INKPADUTAH -LAST HEARD OF INKPADUTAH AND HIS SONS THE MONUMENT- INSCRIPTIONS .321 -
CHAPTER XXIV THE CITY OF SPIRIT LAKE
LOCATING THE TOWN-THE FIRST PLAT-FIRST BUILDING-FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION-FIRST STORE AND HOTELS-TOWN SITE QUESTION -A NEW ERA-INCORPORATION OF TOWN-UTILITIES-POSTOFFICE-A STORM 340
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CHAPTER XXV
LAKE PARK, MILFORD, SUPERIOR, TERRILL AND OTHER TOWNS
LAKE PARK-FIRST SETTLEMENT-FIRST STORES,-BANKS-INCORPORATION -MILFORD-FIRST BUSINESS INTERESTS REMOVAL OF TOWN SITE- MILLS BUSINESS IN NEW TOWN-BANKS AND INCORPORATION- SUPERIOR-START OF TOWN-FIRST STORES POSTOFFICE, BANK AND INCORPORATION-DESTRUCTIVE FIRES-TERRILL-START OF TOWN AND RAILROADS-BANKS-MONTGOMERY-BANK-OTHER VILLAGES IN DICK- INSON COUNTY 349
CHAPTER XXVI TRANSPORTATION
EARLY ROADS-NEAREST RAILROAD STATIONS-A LOCAL COMPANY-ANOTHER ATTEMPT-THE C. & N. W. PLAN-BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTH- ERN-THE DES MOINES & NORTHWESTERN-CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS-MANITOBA & GULF RAILROAD- BRIDGES 356
CHAPTER XXVII EDUCATION IN DICKINSON COUNTY THE PRESS
THE FIRST SCHOOLS-THE FIRST SCHOOL AT SPIRIT LAKE-THE CENTER GROVE SCHOOL-THE OKOBOJI SCHOOL SCHOOLS IN TUSCULUM- OTHER EARLY SCHOOLS - TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION - CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS STATISTICS-THE SPIRIT LAKE BEACON-DICKINSON COUNTY HERALD OTHER SPIRIT LAKE NEWSPAPERS-MILFORD NEWSPAPERS LAKE PARK PAPERS-TERRILL TRIBUNE SUPERIOR NEWS. 361
CHAPTER XXVIII CHURCHES OF DICKINSON COUNTY
THE FIRST MEETING SPIRIT LAKE CHURCHES-MILFORD CHURCHES- CHURCHES OF LAKE PARK AND TOWNSHIP-OTHER CHURCH SOCIETIES 372
CHAPTER XXIX DICKINSON COUNTY SOCIETIES.
THE FIRST SOCIETY IN THE COUNTY-LODGES IN SPIRIT LAKE-MEMORIAL TABLET AT SPIRIT LAKE-MILFORD LODGES-LAKE PARK LODGES OTHER ORGANIZATIONS 379
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CHAPTER XXX
MEDICINE, LAW AND COURTS
THE FIRST DOCTORS-FIRST PHYSICIAN IN MILFORD-FIRST DOCTOR AT LAKE PARK-UPPER DES MOINES MEDICAL SOCIETY-LAW-FIRST ELECTION UNDER NEW CONSTITUTION-FIRST TERM OF DISTRICT COURT-THE JUDGES OF DISTRICT COURT-PRESENT BAR. 385
CHAPTER XXXI DICKINSON COUNTY RESORTS
APPRECIATION BY FIRST SETTLERS-THE FIRST HOTELS SPIRIT LAKE RE- SORTS-ORLEANS HOTEL-OKOBOJI RESORTS-THE VARIOUS BEACHES AND HOTELS-THE FIRST NAVIGATION ON THE LAKES SAIL BOATS-THE FIRST STEAMER-LATER STEAMBOATS 388
CHAPTER XXXII MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
THE LAKE NAMES-STORMS AND BLIZZARDS-THE GRASSHOPPER INVASION- VERSE, CHARGE OF THE GRASSHOPPER BRIGADE-GAME-FISH- CENSUS- REMINISCENCES-A FAMINE 395
CHAPTER XXXIII. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY.
IMPORTANCE OF DATES IN THE STUDY OF HISTORY-INFLUENCE OF EVENTS ON THOSE THAT FOLLOW-EXAMPLES THE SUMMARY-LIST OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE ORGANIZATION OF EMMET AND DICKINSON COUNTIES-IMPORTANT OCCURRENCES SINCE THE FIRST SETTLE- MENT 419
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Emmet and Dickinson Counties
CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
LOCATION-LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE-BOUNDARIES AND AREA-GENERAL SURFACE-RIVERS AND CREEKS-THE LAKES- THE PRAIRIES GEOLOGY -THE GLACIAL EPOCH-HOW THE SURFACE OF IOWA WAS FORMED- CHARACTER OF THE DRIFT-THE WATER SUPPLY-GEOLOGICAL STRUC- TURE AS SHOWN BY DEEP WELL RECORDS-ALTITUDE OF SPIRIT LAKE, ESTHERVILLE AND ARMSTRONG.
Emmet and Dickinson Counties are situated in the northern tier of Iowa counties. They are about midway between the forty-third and forty-fourth parallels of north latitude, and the ninety-fifth meridian of longitude west of Greenwich passes through the latter county, about five miles west of the line dividing it from Emmet. Between Dickinson County and the western boundary of the state lie the counties of Osceola and Lyon.
The County of Emmet is bounded on the north by the State of Minnesota; on the east by Kossuth County; on the south by Palo Alto County, and on the west by the County of Dickinson. It includes con- gressional townships 98, 99 and 100 north, of ranges 31, 32, 33 and 34 west. The townships along the northern border are fractional, so that the extent from north to south is only seventeen miles. From east to west it is twenty-four miles, and the total area of the county is 408 square miles.
Dickinson County is the same size as Emmet. It is composed of congressional townships 98, 99 and 100 north, of ranges 35, 36, 37 and . 38 west. About one-twelfth of the area of this county is covered with lakes. On the north it is bounded by the State of Minnesota; on the east by Emmet County; on the south by Clay County, and on the west by the County of Osceola.
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GENERAL SURFACE
In a general classification, this portion of Iowa would be set down as undulating or rolling prairie, though in places there are high and precipitous hills, such as are seen along the west fork of the Des Moines River in Emmet County. Dickinson County occupies the most elevated position ;of any, county in the state, being situated on the water-shed that divides the Mississippi and Missouri river systems. Concerning the hills of Emmet County, Thomas H. MacBride, in his report of a geological survey, published in 1905, says they "are characteristic and best displayed west of the Des Moines, yet they are by no means lack- ing in other places. They are prominent north of Estherville, about Dolliver, and extending in broken series in a southeasterly direction past Armstrong. They were piled up and abandoned here by an agency of which they are at once result and evidence; an agency in the ages past, efficient over wide areas, determining the shape and features of the land surface of a considerable portion of the northern world-the agency of glacial ice. Erosion affects these hills, no doubt, today as it has for centuries, but it did not make them."
The same authority says of the more level portions of this region: "These are conspicuously two-fold in their origin and position. We have, in the first place, the level of the general prairie, a grass grown level, almost without drainage or slope in any direction. Where the lands are better drained the fields are yet flat, the streams long, crooked and shallow, sluggish and easily overflowed. Such a level as this is known everywhere as a Wisconsin drift plain.
"But the river valley proper shows us a plain topography of yet a different character. On either side of the river, now chiefly on this side, now on that, is a peculiar gravel plain, abutting plump against the hills where these approach; distinct at once in structure as in position. This is no alluvial plain in the ordinary acceptance of the word, as might be at first surmised. Indeed, here is no alluvium at all resultant from the action of the present stream. Here is a plain, generally more than a mile in width, sometimes two or three, composed entirely, except for a little organic matter at the top, of coarse, water-laid sand, bowlders and gravels fifteen or twenty feet in depth, resting often on blue clay. If we study the course of the present stream we shall discover that it has indeed its own alluvium, its own alluvial plain, its flood plain at high water, enriched by falling silt, but this is an entirely different mat- ter. Over the gravel plain the river never, in its highest waters, sweeps at all; it never reaches to that lofty level. Yet, as just stated, here are water-laid sands and gravels of wide extent. These valley plains are
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not the alluvium of our present stream: They are hardly to be reckoned the alluvium of any stream. They are rather the bottom of an ancient river that came down the valley, occupying its total width in its sweep- ing flood, when the whole country, new-born, was taking shape as we see it now."
The city of Estherville and the town of Wallingford are located on this old river bottom or gravel plain. The alluvial plain of the present Des Moines River, spoken of by Mr. MacBride, begins at Estherville and follows the course of the river to the southern boundary of the county. It varies in width from less than a half mile at the north to nearly two miles near the southern border of High Lake Township.
Mr. MacBride made a survey of Dickinson County about three years before his visit to Emmet. In describing the hills of that county he uses language that is somewhat poetical. Says he: "The hills about Diamond Lake, those northwest of Silver Lake, those of Fairview. Town- ship in Osceola County, simply defy classification or description; they pitch toward every point of the compass, they are of every height and shape, they rise by gradual ascent and fall off by precipices so steep that the most venturesome animal would scarcely attempt the descent; they enclose anon high tablelands, anon wide low valleys that open nowhere; they carry lakes on their summits and undrained marshes at their feet; their gentler slopes are beautiful prairies easily amenable to the plough, their crowns often beds of gravel capped with bowlders and reefs of driven sand."
In various places on the hillsides of this county, especially by the margins of the larger streams, there are gravel deposits greatly unlike the ordinary gravel beds of Northern Iowa. Now and then these deposits widen out into plains of considerable size. The most notable formation of this character is seen directly south and west of the town of Milford, in Okoboji Township. It is sandy, gravelly prairie, two or three miles in width, following the general course of the Little Sioux River and extending to the southern boundary of the county. About two miles southwest of Milford, after the Little Sioux River enters the plain, the erosion has left on the west side of the valley a peculiar terrace, which is easily traced to the middle of Section 22. It has been given the name of "Milford Terrace." Farther down, in Section 33, the bluffs of the drift approach much nearer to each other-not more than half a mile apart-and here the terrace may be seen on the west side of the stream as a "narrow shelf, lifted at least fifty feet above the level of the present . river." Similar terraces, though not so well defined, are to be seen at other places along the streams.
The irregular topography of these two counties has a tendency to render the streams more than usually tortuous. This is especially
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true of the eastern part of Emmet County and the western and southern parts of Dickinson, as may be seen in the windings of the east fork of the Des Moines River in the former and the Little Sioux River in the latter.
RIVERS AND CREEKS
In Emmet County the principal stream is the Des Moines River, which enters the county from Minnesota near the northwest corner and flows in a southeasterly direction through the townships of Emmet, Estherville, Center and High Lake, crossing the southern boundary near the southeast corner of Section 33, Township 98, Range 33. Its prin- cipal tributary is Brown Creek, one branch of which rises near the vil- lage of Huntington and the other in Grass Lake, in the northern part of Ellsworth Township. The east fork of the Des Moines has its source in Okamanpadu or Tuttle Lake, in the northeast corner of Lincoln Town- ship. From the lake its course is generally southward for about four miles, when it turns toward the southeast through Armstrong Grove Town- ship and enters Kossuth County near the north line of Denmark Town- ship. Its principal tributary is Soldier Creek, which rises in the north- east corner of Ellsworth Township, passes through Birge Lake and empties into the east fork of the Des Moines in Section 1, Swan Lake Township.
The Sioux Indians called the Des Moines the In-yan-sha-sha-wapa-ta, which means "the Redstone River," and the east fork they called In-yan- sha-sha-watpa-sun-kaku, "brother of the Redstone River."
The Black Cat Creek, another tributary of the east fork, rises northwest of the center of Denmark Township, where it is formed by the junction of several small streams, and flows in a southeasterly direc- tion, crossing the eastern boundary of the county about a mile and a half north of the southeast corner.
Dickinson County's principal watercourse is the Little Sioux River, which is composed of two branches-the east and west forks-both of these rise in the marshes of Jackson County, Minnesota. The east fork, which is the main stream, flows in a southwesterly course through Dia- mond Lake Township. The west fork winds along near the eastern border of Silver Lake Township and receives the waters of Dug-out Creek, which is the outlet of Silver Lake. The two forks unite near the southeast corner of Section 6 in Lakeville Township. From that point the Little Sioux's course is generally southward through the town- ships of Lakeville and Okoboji until it enters Clay County, near the south- east corner of Section 32, Township 98, Range 37.
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