USA > Iowa > An illustrated history of the state of Iowa, being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875; > Part 35
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Calhoun County is twenty-four miles square, and therefore contains 368,640 acres, but less than twenty-seven thous- and acres appears to be under cultiva- tion, according to the census of 1875. Timber is scarce in this county, the average being one acre of wooded land to one thousand of prairie. The coun- ty is wholly on the Mississippi slope, the western portion being drained by Coon river and its tributaries, Lake creek, Camp creek and other streams, which are inconsiderable. Lizard riv- er sends its south fork to the north- east, draining several townships. There are some narrow valleys with fertile bottom lands, but the paucity of tim- ber is a reliable commentary on the general value of the soil. The Twiu lakes are beautiful and somewhat ex- tensive, embracing an area of about seventeen hundred acres. The most northern of the twins is about two miles and one half long, and on an average about half a mile wide. The shores of the lakes are studded with boulders of limestone and of granite, which present in some places the ap- pearance of a wall very rudely heaped up. The beds of the lakes are mixed of sand and gravel, and the depth of water seldom exceeds twenty feet. Probably the two lakes were one at no distant date. There are several other
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lakes of smaller extent but similar in | Company, and the country surround- their general characteristics, whiel do ing Pomeroy being exceptionally fer- tile, farmers have been rapidly drawn thither, and the village grows. In some favored districts settlement pro- ceeds rapidly. not call for more particular mention at present. The county is not rich in stone, there being but few quarries available, but the boulders already named give a supply not readily ex- haustible. Clay for brick making pur- poses is plentiful, and there is no lack of sand, consequently there will be no dearth of building materials of that kind, and when the county becomes more closely settled the agriculturist will see the benefit likely to result from planting groves. The several streams have terraces along their course, af- fording what are locally known as " second bottoms," and on these may be found the best farming lands in Cal- houn county. Grazing lands will con- stitute the first great attraction to set- tlement in this county, as the native grasses arc plentiful and nutritious, and water can be relied on in any part of the district. The prairie lands undu- late considerably, and the higher eleva- tions are covered by a dark loam some- what intermixed with gravel, from which fair average crops can be ob- tained.
The first white settler came to the site now embraced by Calhoun county, in 1854, and he was obliged to trans- port provisions from Fort Des Moines, a distance including necessary detours, of over one hundred miles, and as the crow flies, nearly eighty-five miles. The county was organized in 1855, and the first election held in August, of that year. The first school was taught in this county near Lake City in 1856.
LAKE CITY is the county seat. It is located in the southern part of the county, in the midst of a fine agricultur- al country near North Coon river, and it stands on high prairie land. The first house in the city was built in 1857, and a weckly paper is published here, but the place does not advance very rapidly.
MANSOR is built in the northeastern part of the county, and being situated on the railroad line is destined to pros- per. The village is young, but it stands where it commands the shipment of a wide range of fertile country.
POMEROY is built on the railroad line in the extreme north of the center of Calhoun county. The town was pro- jected and laid off by the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad and Land
CALHOUN CENTER is, as the name implies, very near to the geographical center of the county, and may some day become the seat of administration. The Iowa and Pacific railroad will pass through Calhoun Center when it is completed.
Carroll County is made up of beau- tiful prairie country, and is twenty-four miles square, containing sixteen con- gressional townships. The eastern por- tion of Carroll has a rolling surface, in some parts considerably broken, so that there is no monotony to be complained of in its scenery ; and to the westward the face of the county is still more un- even, but the farmer finds little diffi- culty in accommodating himself to these inequalities, where the soil is of such a character as to repay his labor and outlay. In this county, the water- shed which divides the streams flow- ing toward the Mississippi from those running into the Missouri, has its highest ridge, which attains the alti- tude of 858 feet above the level of lake Michigan. The fertile valley of the Raccoon rivers can be seen from this pinnacle, glowing in the sunlight with a promise of plenty, and turning from east and southeast to the south, Nishua- botany rivets the attention of observers, while towards the west, the valley of the Boyer supplies its quota of love- liness to the varied scene. Most of the streams are small as they flow through this county to their respective destina- tions. The North Raccoon flows across the northeastern corner of the county. The Middle Raccoon is next in volume. Brushy Fork comes next. Storm creek is a tributary of Middle Raccoon and it drains the northern central sections, and the Willow creek serves the same purpose in the east. The North Rac- coon has excavated for itself a deep channel in the drift deposit, and its sometime broader stream must have dug out largely from the earth to make the fruitful valley through which it makes its course. In some places the sides of the valley rise with consider- able suddenness to heights of nearly one hundred feet. The Middle Rac-
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coon is bounded by high bluffs on the | into contact with moisture, bursts the west, by drift hills on the east, and brick asunder. the country gradually rises to greater elevations. The same configuration of surface is repeated at Brushy Fork, where the valley is surrounded by ac- clivities, and by the land on either side of the East Nishnabotany, the Boycr river and Whitteds creek. Nearly all these streams are but little larger than brooks in their upper courses, but as they roll onward to their final destiny, they increase by every rill, and by numerous springs until they become important.
Wells may be sunken in about any part of the well watered county with a certainty of success, but in some parts it is necessary to carry the sinking to much greater depths than in others. There are peat formations in some parts of this county, forming what are known as spring mounds, very inter- esting to students of natural pheno- mena, but we are precluded from giv- ing to these items more than a brief word in passing.
The soil of Carroll county on the east side of Middle Raccoon is loam mixed with gravel, and very produc- tive, and on the west of that stream the bluff formation prevails, fruitful but cer- tainly peculiar. Timber may be found in greater or less quantity on the mar- gins of most of the streams, and there are many groves of great extent in dif- ferent parts of the county. Coal has not yet been found in situ, but in sinking wells there have been un- earthed many fragments which may have come from remote distances dur- ing the drift period, or may be due to much nearer sources. It is not im- probable that coal measures will be found in such positions as will give employment to large masses of labor. Peat will, in course of time, be utilized as fuel in Carroll county, but all the discoveries yet made in this line have been so mixed with gravel and sand as to be practically valueless. Good build- ing stone is a desideratum, as the sand- stones, which generally prevail, are too easily disintegrated to be used with advantage. Clay for brickmak- ing can be had with little trouble, bnt some of the clays are so mixed with debris from the limestone formations, that the bricks are not burnable with- out converting the stone into quick- lime, which afterwards, on coming
The first settlement in Carroll county took place in 1854, and an election was held in the following year ; the first school being organized in 1856. An old Indian trail straight as the flight of an arrow, and known to old settlers as the " War Path," is still distinguish- able. It was the line of demarkation between the hunting grounds of Sioux and Pottawattomies, and any red man that dared cross, that path to hunt in the grounds of other tribes did so at the risk of his life. The tribes mentioned are said to have fought a terrible bat- tle once near the Crescent lake; but, perhaps, it would be difficult to find a lake, a valley or a watercourse, where such conflicts have not occurred. The battle in question is said to have re- sulted very much like the war between the Kilkenny cats, who fought until nothing remained but the tail of the victor, and in this fight near Crescent. lake, an old warrior asserts, that the attacking party of Sioux was all de- stroyed, but not until the Pottawatto- mies were all killed with the excep- tion of three wounded braves.
CARROLL is the county seat, and it is situated on the line of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, a little north of the geographical center of the county. The country round Carroll is very fertile, but settlers are yet at a premium. The town was laid out in 1867, and its progress has been satis- factory. The shipments by the linc mentioned are large and increasing, and a very good business is effected in supplying the wants of agricuiturists. The school system of Carroll county has had much attention wisely given to its furtherance, and the results are visible. Places of worship have also been provided from almost the earliest days of the settlement, and other in- stitutions have kept pace. There are three newspapers published in Car- roll, one German and two English. The town is evidently destined to make headway.
GLIDDEN is on the Northwestern Railroad in the eastern portion of the county, and its principal reliance is on the advantages which it can offer to the farmers as a place of shipment for their produce. The town was laid out in 1856, and is the center of a large agricultural district.
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CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHIL A.
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PHOTO :ENG.
Orson Rice, Esq.
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CARROLLTON was at one time the county seat, and is the oldest town in the county, having been laid out in 1856. It stands in the southeastern part of the county and forms the cen- ter of a fine farming and grazing country, which will eventually com- mand every facility for transit and com- merce.
ARCADIA, Browning, Coon, Rapids and Elbe, are villages and postoffices of various importance in the county, but all dependent on the future for a celeb- rity that must yet be won.
Cass County is situated on the Mis- souri slope and it contains the custom- ary twenty-four square miles of terri- tory. The position indicated will show at a glance that Cass county is a well drained and tolerably well watered section of the state of Iowa. Among the larger streams may be mentioned the East Nishnabotany, Indian Creek, Turkey creek, and Seven Mile creek which take rank in the order in which they stand and afford good water powers for milling and facto- ries.
The altitude of this county at its highest point is nine hundred and twenty feet above the low water mark of the Mississippi at Davenport; hence it will be seen that the prevailing characteristic of the region is the re- verse of tame and level. Undulating prairie is the feature most striking. Away from the rivers, and near every water course may be found belts of timber and detached groves which ag- gregate twelve thousand acres in the whole area. This gives a very liberal per centage of wooded land; enough for all needs, and it is the more valuable because it is distributed throughout the county. The soil is rich and pro- ductive, farmers finding little or no difficulty in producing root crops, cereals, and fruits of every kind prop- er to a temperate climate. On either side of the principal streams are val- leys of various extent in which are lo- cated some of the most luxuriant farmns that can be found in Iowa. The Nish- nabotany valley is especially noticea- ble for this feature, and it may be said further, that almost every acre of land in the county will pay for the very highest cultivation.
Cass county is well adapted for stock raising as well as for farming,
many of the farmers having timber shelter for their cattle as well as water for all requirements, so that an active minded, enterprising man can make summer and winter play into each others' hands for his profit. Thousands of locations can be found where all these advantages conjoin, and among intelligent agriculturists, such bene- fits do not go a begging. The number of stock farmers already settled in Cass is a good commentary on the fore- going facts, and most of the men who have gone into that line of business have come out of the big end of the horn. Grasses, native, as well as im- ported are well nourished by the soil and genial rains of Cass county, and the sleek coats of the cattle tell of their prosperity under their liberal dietary scale.
Growing timber is quite a pursuit among farmers who have turned their attention to stock, and substantial hedges are to be seen on every hand. Osage orange hedges were at one time thought valueless in Cass county, but improved systems of cultivation have brought them back into repute, and they are now in high favor. Such hedges on prairie land have a beauti- ful effect, and they are of great utility as well as charming to the eye. Ap- ples, pears, cherries and small fruits generally, are produced in this county with comparatively little trouble, and much profit, as might easily be sup- posed by the most cursory observer, noting the large average of country employed in their growth ..
The county has good roads, conse- quently there is no difficulty in con- veying produce to local markets or to ports of shipment, a matter of very great importance to the agricultur- ist. The community is well supplied with school houses near every center of population and within easy dis- tance of every aggregation of farms. The school buildings are good and the teachers, as a rule, keep school for nine months in every twelve. That fact is creditable to the good sense of the population, and it says a great deal for the perseverance of those engaged in tuition.
There are good quarries in the county, the dark brown sandstone ob- tained in the Nishnabotany valley be- ing prime favorite. The town of Lewis is very near to the best quarries.
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Good stone for the manufacture of lime is also procurable. A deposit of mineral paint has been found in Edna township, and the material in ques- tion is in great demand. So far as the supply can be gauged at present there is no fear of its speedily running out, as it covers a large area and varies in thickness from one foot to three. Coal has not yet been found, hut the strata that usually overlie the coal meas- ures are commonly found, and it is is probable that when deep mining is resorted to, the carboniferous stratum will give an entirely new direction to industries.
The county has no public debt, nor has there been an incubus of that kind to be carried by the community dur- ing the last decade. This circum- stance deserve more notice, because the result has not been attained by mere stinginess, as the liberality of Cass county in school matters is al- most proverbial.
In the year 1873, when the popula- tion of Cass county was only seven thousand all told, the sum expended in school buildings and organizations showed a grand total of $45,000, in that year, and since that date there has been no falling off.
The early traditions and records show that when in 1845-6, the Mor- mons came through their troubles at Nauvoo, they came to the high lands on the west of the Nishnabotany river and there established a station which they named Indian Town. The Potta- wattomies had a village near their lo- cation and the Mormons always made it a point to stand well with their red neighbors, whom they complimented in naming their location. That Mor- mon settlement remained long after the saints had made their departure across the continent toward the setting sun, and found their permanent home in Salt Lake City. Indian Town was the principal trading station for many years, and being on the track most used between the two great rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, a large measure of prosperity was realized by residents therein. Well cultivated farms are now to be found where the Mormons tarried in Iowa, and the furrows of innumerable plows have erased their foot prints, as though it were resolved that no sign of their presence should be handed down to|
posterity. During their stay in the territory, they were not bad neighbors to any other class, for none but the Indians lived near them, and the fol- lowers of Joe Smith and Brigham Young were wise enough to know that they could not steal much from a tribe of Indians without making a trade in scalps.
As late as 1854, a store was kept at Indian Town, but since that time the commercial importance of the site has departed. Permanent settlement had already commenced, and the "Cold Spring" post office at Indian Town was the first in the county. The first settlers date their coming from the year 1851. Organization commenced in 1852, when the first election was held, and thirteen votes were polled by a community which numbered one hundred possible electors. County or- ganization dates from the following year. Lewis was located as the county seat in March, 1853; but, after a spir- ited contest, in which electioneering zeal did its best on both sides, the seat of administration was changed, in 1869, after sixteen years' enjoyment of the sweets of empire.
ATLANTIC is the county seat of Cass at the present time, and will probably continue to enjoy that distinction. The population of Atlantic numbers two thousand. The town was laid out in 1868, and, in January, 1869, there was rejoicing beyond measure among the pioneers upon the arrival of the first railway train. The county seat was changed to Atlantic the same year, and from that time Atlantic has been marching on as persistently as the spirit of John Brown. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad makes Atlantic the point of shipment for an immense extent of agricultural land, and that secures a large amount of business of every kind for its traders. The town is located on high ground, which gradually rises into beautiful hills facing the north. To the south- west is a fine grove of timber, and its western limit almost touches the Nish- nabotany river. There is a beautiful public park in the main business street of the town, and many excellent build- ings have been erected for residence and for commerce. There are good schools in Atlantic, well built, of brick, and administered by men and women thoroughly imbued with the most ad-
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vanced thought on popular instruction. There is no place in Iowa, all things considered, with which Atlantic might not advantageously compare in the matter of school accommodations and efficiency. There are three newspapers published in the town, and two banks are engaged in profitable business, which attracts clients from surround- ing counties to this county seat.
LEWIS, once the county seat, is on the east side of the Nishnabotany river, seven miles southwest of Atlantic, the successful rival. The town was once on the main line of travel, but the ad- vent of railways has put the place on the side track. The course of events will some day advance Lewis again to the front.
ANITA is a prosperous little railroad town on the northeast of the county, and it is growing rapidly.
WIOTA lies between Atlantic and Anita, being a station on the same line of railroad, and being supported by a fine range of agricultural land, it will rapidly increase.
Marne is a station six miles west of Atlantic, and it grows rapidly by rea- son of its advantages.
Newlan's Grove, Whitneyville and Wilson's are post offices only.
Cedar County is one of the counties on the eastern boundary of the state, the counties which bound it lying on the Mississippi river. The county is twenty-four miles square. The Cedar river gives its name to the county, which is very well adapted for farm- ing and stock raising. Drainage and water supply are alike secured by the configuration of the country. Some small tracts of land may he found which are too level, but generally the rolling and broken surface does for the agriculturist what must be secured by heavy expenditure elsewhere, and it is rare to find a section of country in which the skill of the farmer will not procure good returns upon wise in- vestment. The valley of the Cedar is noted everywhere throughout the state for its fertility, and this couuty offers no exception to that rule. Farmers who are located there, need only time, if they are moderately industrious, to become flourishing men, with goods and gear in abundance.
In the bottoms, the aoil is a rich, dark loam mixed with sand, and hav-
ing great depth, to which subsoil plowa can reach with advantage. In the higher lands the same description of soil is found, minus the sand, and not quite so deep. Oak openinga, and some few sandy knolls may be named among the poorest soil in the county, but even these, when the best lands have been occupied and improved, will be found possible to cultivate success- fully, and prepare the way for an ever- increasing population.
Clay, without any hard pan, is the aubsoil generally, and that stratum is well adapted for all seasons, wet or dry, as it avoids extremes, and seconds the labors of the farmer. It would be difficult to name a description of crop which may be grown in temperate climates and which does not flourish in Cedar county, consequently it is not necessary to give a detailed list of pro- ductions. The farm and the orchard are alike fruitful, and stock will flour- ish there abundantly. Indeed, as a stock raising country it cannot be excelled, and the farmers here have turned their attention to the procure- ment of all the best breeds of cattle, knowing that the poorest animals cost as much in care and feed as the most valuable, while the returns are beyond comparison in favor of the breeds that unite all excellencies.
The Cedar river is the largest in the state, with the exception of the Des Moines, and its importance to the county which bears its name cannot be overstated. Rock and Sugar creeks are among the main tributaries of the Cedar river, and there are numerous other and smaller streams which in- crease its volume, many of these being springs. The Wapsipinicon river also flows through the county, receiving confluents which drain the northeast- ern part of the country. At Cedar Bluffs there is a remarkably good wa- ter power, which has not yet been taken up for manufacturing purposes, but competent engineers say that the state has nothing to excel the location now under review.
A power capable of operating one hundred and aixty run of millstones, or other machinery equivalent thereto, will not long wait for proper employ- ment. Other powers will also com- mand attention, when capital and la- bor are brought into closer commu- nion.
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Along the Cedar and its tributaries there is a supply of timber, as also along the course of the Wapsipinicon, but, generally, the wooded wealth of the county is not great. Some valu- able groves are sparsely scattered over the territory, and there are indications that the farmers, appreciating the value of trees for other reasons besides the worth of the wood, will give much attention to the increase of groves upon their estates.
Stone for building purposes is sim- ply inexhaustible along the several streams, and there is no end of stone from which quicklime can be ob- tained. Light colored magnesian lime stone can be procured from a quarry near Cedar Bluffs, which will be im- mensely valuable when it can be cheaply landed in Chicago and other metropolitan cities, where beauty and durability in building materials are duly appreciated. For the present, that form of wealth is merely waiting for cheap transit. Sand and clay fit for brick making are easily accessible.
Railways are desiderata in the growth of newly settled countries, be- cause by their means those who desire so to do can come from any distance to examine the people and places with which they propose to associate their fortunes, and those who are on the spot can procure all the aid that they desire to increase their efficiency.
The Chicago and Northwestern Rail- road passes east and west through the northern townships in Cedar county, and has a branch running to the coun- ty seat, which leaves the main line at Stanwood. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific also contributes the civiliz- ing influence of its facilities to a part of the country. The Burlington, Ce- dar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad passes through Springdale and Gower townships, and the Davenport and St. Paul passes through the northeast cor- ner. Besides these several lines there is a new line projected which will - pass east and west through the county, striking Tipton, the county seat. - These several roads may be taken as an indication that the people of the district named are in accord with the - spirit of the age.
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