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 38
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A large flouring mill is the only in- dustry yet established to improve the Turkey river at this point. The town site was first selected as a residence in 1836. The Indians having stolen the horses of some explorers led almost immediately to the location at Elka- der, and the place has gone on steadily increasing from that time. The man who thus determined the village site is still living in the town and is now ninety-four years of age.
The town does a large shipping bu- siness in live hogs, dressed hogs and other products which aggregate large- ly. The line by which this traffic is carried on is the narrow guage rail- road, which intersects the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad at Bulah, with- out which the greatness of Elkader must suffer a decline.
The town has a fine school building in which there are four grades culmi-
nating in the high school, with an ad- ditional department for tuition in Ger- man. The schools are supplied with all the modern improvements and the teachers are fully up to their work. The number of pupils averages 280, and there are five teachers. Besides this institution there is a private school under the immediate supervis- ion and patronage of the Catholic church. There are several newspapers published in Elkader, and the town generally takes a high stand.
MCGREGOR is situated on the bank of the Mississippi, opposite Prairie du Chien, one hundred and ninety- nine miles from Milwaukee, by the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, which crosses the river at this point, and gives the town access to a valua- ble line of travel through the north- west. The Chicago, Dubuque and Minnesota Railroad, running from Chicago to Dubuque, passes through McGregor to Winona, Minnesota, where it connects with other valuable lines. In the year 1857, McGregor was a village of less than three hun- dred souls, and now its population ex- ceeds four thousand, and there is be- fore this lively and wide awake town a very prosperous future. Northern Iowa and southern Minnesota find in this town their best outlet, and the success of the younger town is a kill- ing commentary on the lifelessness of the town on the further bank. During the seasons when the river can be nav- igated there are boats of the best de- scription to be availed of for travel to St. Paul, on the one hand, or to Du. buque and St. Louis on the other. Crossing the river to Prairie du Chien another range of travel and traffic opens up, and the commercial advan- tages of this center of business can hardly be overstated.
The early French traders named the ravine, in which McGregor is built, " Coolie de Sioux." The bluffs rise on either hand to a height of four huu- dred feet, and the position has beauty as well as convenience to recommend it. A ferry from Prairie du Chien was established in 1836, by the man from whom the town took its name, and the place was at once known for miles around as McGregor's landing. From that date the town slowly rose and in spite of diversions which were made at one time to diminish its importance.
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The cabin built by McGregor, the fer- | beautiful prairie, extending from the ryman, marked the beginning of the now great commercial center. The village was incorporated in 1857, and its improvements would alone serve to testify the growth of which it is ca- pable. There is a considerable share of manufacturing effected in the town, and the records, which have been ob- tained to show the amount of business transacted within twelve months, show a total of nearly sixteen million dollars.
McGregor has a trout pond, one of the finest in the west, and the work of pisciculture is pursued wisely and well by its managers, who can already point to very satisfactory results.
The largest graded school in Clay- ton county is located at McGregor, where four hundred scholars are en- rolled, out of a population showing more than twice that number within the school attending ages, and an av- erage attendance of nearly three hun- dred. Some day the Prussian system of compulsory tuition may have to be resorted to in this country unless there is a more general taking hold of the advantages which good schooling can confer. The idea seems repugnant to the genius of our institutions, but jus- tice to the rising generation, to whom the task of governing the union will be handed over in the course of the next thirty years at farthest, forbids that a sacred duty should be neglected merely to suit the whims of sickly sentiment. It is useless to make pro- vision unless those for whom schools are specially wanted can be made par- ticipants in the benefit. The school at McGregor is graded as primary school, grammar school and high school, and the staff of teachers em- ployed is about as efficient as could be desired. German is also taught in the school as a special department.
There are several papers published in McGregor, two of them being very admirable sheets.
GUTTENBERG would have been the county seat still, as it was at one time, - but that the popular voice ruled other- wise throughout the county; and the location of the town on the bank of the Mississippi, away from the center of the region, over which its citizens aspired to rule, justified the negative with which the demand was met and ended. The town is situated on a very
base of the bluffs half a mile eastward to the river, and about three miles long. The early name of the town was Prairie la Porte, or " The Door Prairie," for which appellation it was indebted to French missionaries. The Chicago, Dubuque and Minnesota rail- road supplements the advantages of river navigation for Guttenberg, and that gives the town peculiar facilities for the shipment of produce, and for the transaction of other business.
The town was laid out in 1837; soon after which the county seat was lo- cated here. The struggles for the the county seat have already been de- scribed, and it would be a work of supererogation to go over the same ground here. When the town was in- corporated, in 1851, there were only three hundred persons in the place ; and from that time to the present, the growth of Guttenberg has been steady. The town has progressed in substan- tial improvements, every year being marked by better business premises and handsomer residences than had been possible, until that time in the neighborhood.
Stone for building purposes can be procured readily; and advantage has been taken of that fact to improve the aspect of Guttenberg, most of the buildings being erected from the quar- ries in the bluffs back of the town. There is a steam ferry boat which crosses the river to Glen Haven, three miles up on the Wisconsin side. The town is supplied with good schools.
GARNAVILLO is twelve miles south- west from McGregor, and six miles from the Mississippi. This town was once known as Jacksonville and was at that time the county seat. The vil- lage is located on a fine prairie, beauti- ful and fertile, with abundant timber near at hand. The town was twice the county seat, but the permanent settlement is supposed to be now reached at Elkader.
CLAYTON is a town in the county of the same name, situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, ten miles above Guttenberg and the like dis- tance below McGregor. The steam- boat landing at Clayton very mate- rially assists the growth of the town, and the fact that it has a station of the Chicago, Dubuque and Minnesota rail- road, still further increases its busi-
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ness. The rich county, of which it is | springs are very numerous iu the the natural outlet hy river or rail, is county. Wells, easily dug, obtain cold and sparkling water at a depth of lit- tle more than twenty feet; and gener- ally it may be said the county is ex- cellently watered and drained. reached by good roads which continue and branch from the main street of Clayton, through the ravine which first marked out this site as the loca- tion for a town. Shippers coming here with their produce for shipment to destinations more or less remote, make this town their point of supply, and mutual advantage results. The population is about one thousand, and there is a good graded school, well administered and appointed to supply the needs of youth; and good results have been attained.
Clinton County is in the great east- ern bend of the Mississippi river, nearly midway on the eastern bound- ary of Iowa. The first railroad that sought to push its way westward toward the Missouri river across the state, made Clinton county its point of departure. The heat of summer in this region is modified by northern breezes, and the rigor of winter is les- sened by southern winds. The county embraces an area of seven hundred and twenty square miles, being thirty- six miles long by eighteen miles wide. The Mississippi forms the eastern boundary of Clinton county, and its advantages therein cannot be enumer- ated. Before the railroads came into the county, the river carried merchan- dise to and fro, exchanging surplus produce for foreign supplies; and the locations which had the great riparian privilege, reaped profits proportion- ately great. With the railroads have come more enterprise, and advantages more widely diffused throughout great- er areas of country ; but the few towns which enjoyed special advantages, have not flourished in the same pro- portion as they once did. Actually they may be much better off, but rela- tively they stand back from the posi- tions they once hoped to keep forever.
The Wapsipinicon river crosses the southwest corner of the county, and becomes, in part, the southern bound- ary. The stream is clear and beautiful, and has many considerable tributaries, among which are Big Rock, Brophy's and Silver creeks. North and east the county is watered and drained by Deep creek, Elk creek, Sugar creek and Mill creek. Small lakes or ponds are also found in many locations ; and
Groves of timber, varying in extent, are found on the borders of the several streams, the varieties being those com- mon to the state. There is so liberal a supply of timber that it is largely used for fuel ; and many of the settlers plant groves for such and similar pur- poses. The prairie lands are being dotted over with such groves, which may, in course of time, change the whole face of the country. The sur- face of the country rolls and undulates in such manners that there is no actual sameness to mar the scenic effect, and yet there is a uniformity of drainage, and a soil easy of cultivation almost everywhere. Near the Wapsipinicon and, yet more so, near the Great river, there is ground so bluffy and uneven that the agriculturist may well be puz- złed to know what present profit may be procured from them; but these are very marked exceptions to the contour of the county. The deep, dark mould of the soil holds the rich accretions of centuries, waiting to enrich the hus- bandman whether he turns his atten- tion to fruit or to cereals, to root crops or to cattle. The grasses which spring up on the plains are nutritious to a degree seldom realized; and graziers will, in the near future, make Clinton their stronghold in Iowa.
Near the large streams the soil is not quite so productive and various in its powers as on the prairies, and among the groves where the rotting vegetation of unnumbered ages has given its best properties to the eartlı. Probably the land less worthy of gen- eral cultivation will be found adapted for hardy grapes in good aspects. The preparation of raisins for the east- eru demand will some day become a very profitable industry in this country and the vine will cover millions of so called barren lands with a garment of beauty, which will employ an im- mense population. The surplus pro- ductions of this county will increase with every year, no matter how con- tinuous and rapid may be its increase of population. It would be superflu- ous to enumerate the vegetal wealth which such a county can send into
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the markets of the world. The dairy farmer will send its cheese to Europe after the demands of the east and nearer home have been supplied. The fruits which will be gathered from orchards and vines must secure good prices for the producer. Root crops beyond the requirements of the human popula- tion will find ready consumption as winter food for cattle, whose meats will allow of easy transport and profit- able sale in a thousand markets.
The first white settler in Clinton county located on the Wapsipinicon or " White Potatoes " river sometime in 1836, where and when the Ameri- can fur company had a trading post to facilitate business with the trappers and Indians. At first employed by the company he became a permanent set- tler in the territory which was attached to Wisconsin. Hunters and red men had undisputed possession of the land and a man anxious to locate himself and family permanently in these wilds was a rare phenomenon. The native tribes were said to be very peaceful in their traditional hunting grounds un- til the encroachments of their white neighbors made resistance a virtue, but it is highly probable that both sides were at fault in that matter. Certain it is that the Indians were at length compelled to take up arms against the lawless intruders who came to them outlaws very often, yet pre- tending to be the agents and represen- tatives of the great father in Washing- ton, and it was under such circum- stances that the country was partially prepared for permanent settlement. The years of 1836 and 1837 saw many new arrivals in the territory who made their homes at Round Grove, and Folk's Grove, until they could make their selections in the country waiting their choice. The first post office in the territory, which afterwards became Clinton county was established at this early date, the old trading post of the American Fur Company was the loca- tion and the name given to the place was Monroe. The county was organ- ized by the territorial legislature in 1839-40, and the first elections were appointed for March in the latter year. Justice had been dispensed in Cam- anche until that time, but the county seat was located at De Witt.
Clinton has made excellent provis- ion for schools, at least as good as any
county in the state, and that is saying a great deal. Iowa educational insti- tutions have won a wide reputation and what is better, they deserve the best that can be said of their efficiency. Clinton saw from the first that brain pays for cultivation better than any other product which is subject to man's dominion, and with that fact fully settled beyond cavil, the school system was commenced. There are at present in Clinton county, three high schools and a college, all of which are available even to the very poorest, upon terms which they can easily compass, and if any person rises to maturity untrained, it must result from some radical personal defect.
Clinton has facilities for transpor- tation such as few newly settled coun- ties can rival, many roads com- peting with each other for the traffic, and travel of the region until there is no considerable section without fair means at its disposal. The Chicago and Northwestern runs east and west through the southern townships; the Iowa Midland, and the Sabula and Ackley, run in a parallel line through the northern townships. The Daven- port and St. Paul have two branches running north and south and the main branch goes through the western part intersecting the Chicago and North- western at Wheatland. The Maquoketa branch goes through the central part of the county, crossing two lines, the Iowa Midland, and Sabula and Ack- ley at Delmar, and at Dewitt the Chi- cago and Northwestern. In addition to all these ramifications of the iron road, the river road otherwise known as the Chicago, Clinton and Dubuque runs from Clinton City north through the valley of the Mississippi river. Facilities such as these would be hard to beat anywhere.
CLINTON CITY, the county seat and otherwise important towu, is beauti- fully situated on the bank of the father of waters. The town was laid out in conformity with the bend of the river on which it is located, and its site has compelled admiration from thousands. The town is now much larger than the original plat, and there are signs that before long still further additions will be wanted. The streets that run north and south are eighty l'eet wide and six hundred feet apart. Besides these there are avenues running back from
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the river one hundred feet wide and | in particular, where there were none three hundred feet apart. Second street is the main business street, but some large establishments are con- ducted elsewhere and many of the resi- dences might be called palatial almost anywhere. Neat cottages, in hand- some grounds well shaded with forest trees and considerable groves in the distance, make the scene truly eharm- ing. The improvements of Clinton City have been made with wise econ- omy and therefore with no niggard hand. The streets are well graded with good sidewalks, and drainage has received competent attention.
In the year 1838 the town of New York was laid out on the site now oc- cupied by Clinton City, and a ferry was established running to Whiteside Point, Illinois, but ten years later when the paper township was no nearer to success than at the first loca- tion, the land passed into the hands of a new purchaser. After that time the location was devoted to agriculture and so remained until seven years af- terward, when in 1855 the Iowa Land Company laid off the town of Clinton now the seat of Clinton county. The venture was a good one on the part of' company, as much of the emigration that has come into Iowa came by way of Clinton, great numbers remaining there to invest their capital and energy in preference to going further and pos- sibly faring worse. At that point the future greatness of Clinton county will be materiatly aided by the develop- ment of manufactories which will have every opportunity to send their pro- ducts into neighboring states as well as to disseminate them throughout their own. These possibilities and circum- stances have raised Clinton City to its present status, and it is venturing little to say, will carry it much farther. A church and school house were the very significant first improvements in the embryo city, soon afterwards other works were projected and due care LYONS is the companion city of Clin- ton with which it is connected by easy and direct communication. Lyons is also located on the Mississippi hank. The first settlement at this point was made in 1836, when some few families came to make their homes in the wild west. The town was laid off in 1837, and named after the famous silk man ufacturing eity of Lyons in France, having been taken that the emigrating public should be advised of all the good in store for them, the tide soon set toward the young metropolis. There was a futile scheme to build a railroad to be known as the Mississip- pi and Iowa Central which was to cre- ate its own travel and traffic, from a town of two hundred people, who wished to stay at home, to no place i hut little progress was made with the
to give a revenue upon the outlay, and the result need not be described. That collapse came very near bursting the plucky settlement, but the backbone that was in the county as well as the grit of the people would not permit of wider misfortune. After some few other mare's nest speculations the tide of suc- cess finally came with the construction of a road by the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Company, which connecting with the Dixon Air Line, ran from Clin- ton City on the Father of Waters to Council Bluffs on the Missouri. That road was completed, but a combina- tion of eircumstances led to a consoli- dation not at all disadvantageous to the city, which made the Chicago and Northwestern Company directors of the traffie from Chicago to Omaha. Thus railway enterprise came to the rescue of an all but dispairing settle- ment, and made the wealth of the thickly peopled eities of the east avail- able to cover the wilderness with smil- ing homes, drawing baek in a thous- and ways advantages which defy enu- meration while they more than repay every sacrifiee. There are few towns of the same extent in the Middle and New England states which have made better preparation for the purposes of youthful training than Clinton City. The inhabitants came mostly from the east and they have not forgotten their old uses and traditions, upon some of which they have engrafted consider- able improvements. There are street cars in Clinton City which run north to the city of Lyons, and the principal streets, as well as the best houses and stores have been lighted with gas. Dur- ing 1874, water works were started suc- cessfully. The timber trade of Clinton is large and prosperous, and the city has many newspapers which unite the interests of the immediate locality of publication with those of the county at large.
CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.FHILA.
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sale of town lots until after 1855, when | streams in this county are numerous. the place was incorporated. The little town has manfacturing interests al- ready important and which cannot fail to increase, besides which it transacts a very considerable business with settlers on the fine land back of the the town, whose wants will multiply with their means to satisfy them as long as industry thrives.
DE WITT is a town of some moment twenty miles west of Clinton City, lo- cated on high prairie land in the cen- ter of a rich farming country. It is placed at the intersection of two rail- roads, the Chicago and. Northwestern and the Davenport and St. Paul, and with such facilities at its disposal in a country which continuously produces a surplus of stock, grain, and other marketable stuff the town has grown rapidly into recognition as one of the best business places in that section of country. In 1840 the site of De Witt was chosen for the county seat, but the first name chosen was Vandenburg; but the honor of being the seat of jus- tice, although of long duration, was after thirty years of empire transferred to Clinton City. De Witt did not tamely submit to the transfer but after a good fight the younger and stronger city came off victorious.
WHEATLAND has already been men- tioned in the more general description of the county; it enjoys railway com- munication, and is a thriving place.
CAMANCHE was the first seat of jus- tice in the county before De Witt came into notice, and it is now quite a pros- perous little town.
GRAND MOUND and Low MOOR are thriving little places, besides which the following villages and post offices must be enumerated in giving a record of Clinton county progress : Almount Station, Boon Spring, Brook- field Center, Brown's Station, Bryant, Buena Vista, Burgess, Charlotte, El- vira, Elwood, Goose Lake, Last Na- tion, Malone, Orange, Riggs' Station, Teed's Grove, Ten Mile House, Tor- onto and Welton.
Crawford County is on the western slope of the state of Iowa, near, but not on, the Missouri river banks. The county contains seven hundred and twenty square miles. Western Iowa, in which Crawford county stands, is usually well watered, and the running
The Boyer river is one of the largest streams; it runs, with many turnings, diagonally through the county, from northeast to southwest, and drains & large area. East Boyer river is a tribu- tary of the larger stream, which it joins near Denison, after flowing south- west from Carroll county. The Boyer has other tributaries which water and drain a very large proportion of the remainder of the county, among which the more important are Wal- nut, Dunham's, Buss, Welsh, Ernst, Buffalo, Otter, Paradise, Boon, Coon and Buck creeks. The Nishnabotany river and Williams creek, with several tributaries, are charged with the drain- age of the southeast. The northwest corner is crossed by Soldier river, where it receives a number of afflu- ents, chief among which is Beaver creek. A branch known as East Sol- dier river, drains the northwest, aided by Spillman creek and several minor streams. Willow river has its rise in the southwest of Crawford county, and one township owes to that stream its drainage and main water supply. Boyer river is the only large stream in the long list enumerated, but the sup- ply of water tor stock is practically unlimited. Fine springs abound in this county. Thirty feet is the ex- treme limit to which it has been found necessary to sink to procure good well water, the more general depth being about twenty feet. Springs are the main sources of supply for many of the creeks and streams. Spring Grove is so named in honor of a very beantiful spring which is located about a mile and one-half from the town of Denison.
Groves of timber follow the courses of the main streams, more especially of the Boyer and East Boyer rivers, but there are also good groves to be found on the smaller streams. Mason's grove is the largest grove in the coun- ty ; it covers about two thousand acres along the east side of the Boyer river, commencing at a point about five miles from Denison. Dunham's grove contains about three hundred acres. The aggregate sums up to about ten thousand two hundred and forty acres, or about one acre of wood to every forty-five acres of prairie. Extensive destruction by fires, in by-gone times, must be held to account for this small
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