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 39
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supply of wood in a county so well watered; but there will be a much greater plenty of the article within a few years, now that adequate precau- tions are ohserved to prevent confla- grations. The timber growing in this county contain some choice varieties. Many of the settlers, seeing the neces- sity for such operations, have planted groves of silverleaf, maple, cotton- wood, black walnut and box elder, which have sprung up with great ra- pidity, and their examples being ex- tensively followed, the prairies will soon wear a changed aspect.
Generally, the conformation of the county is best described by the word rolling, as the lands which divide the streams sweep down toward the valleys and river beds in swelling profusion, seeming almost to globe their form to give fullness to their scenery as they plunge downward from the undulating plains. These features are varied in different parts, becoming more de- clivitous toward the head waters of the several streams, and in such posi- tions the ground becomes too uneven for cultivation. The soil is of great fertility, bearing the general character- istics, as to color and composition, of the Missouri slope. Gravel pits are opened in many parts of the county, and such "finds" are very highly valued. The valley of the Boyer is one of the finest in the state, but it is only partially under cultivation, and does not yet begin to unfold the rich treasures of fertility in its soil. The valley is nearly thirty miles in extent, and its hreadth in some parts is con- siderable. While thus mentioning the value of the bottom lands, it is due to the prairies to remark that many of the uplands are very productive. The best lands of that kind are to the east, north and northwest of the county. Heavy rains, on many of the slopes, have completely denuded the soil of its rich coating of vegetable mold, and the accretions are found in the valleys, but the slopes thus bared of their later accumulations, present just the quality of land which, bordering on the Rhine, produces some of the best grapes grown in Europe; and, where a good aspect can be secured, the grape which grows wild in the state of Iowa, will suggest to the farmer the advantage of varying his productions.
The scene, gazing from the uplands
down the valley of the Boyer, in many cases, could hardly be surpassed in quiet beauty. The farms dotted in all directions, the lovely orchards, the cattle grazing on the slopes, the sheep in the meadows, and the crops waving their promise of plenty, seem to invite man to enjoy the happiness of a ter- restrial paradise.
A quarry on Buck creek, not far from Denison, is the only exposure of good building stone worked in the county; but, of course there will be many others, although the supply of such material is somewhat limited. Limestone, which can be used in the manufacture of quick lime can be ol- tained in Spring Grove, Burnt Woods, and in some few other places. Brick- making will he profitahle in this sec- tion of country, the requisite materials being plentiful and the article neces- sarily in good demand.
Veins of coal have been cursorily sought, without success, in this coun- ty; but it is probable that there are measures of some value, underlying the strata which have been found, and if so, many years must elapse before the demand will be such as to pay for such deep mining as would be necessary to win the treasure for con- sumption.
Spring wheat in this county has va- ried in yield from fifteen to forty-five bushels to the acre, part of the differ- ence being chargeable to the idiosyn- crasies of the agricultural intellect, but beyond doubt there are great varieties of soil observable in Crawford county. Tame grasses have been cultivated by a few farmers and have succeeded very well, and clover can also be relied upon, but the native grasses are generally good enough to render substitutes un- necessary, unless by way of variety. The customary products of the state can be raised in this county with a fair average of success. Orchards of many years standing give abundant fruit, and cherries are abundant. All the surplus of the Boyer valley can be conveyed to distant markets by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, which traverses nearly its whole ex- tent, from the eastern boundary to the northwest, and the quantities shipped are already considerable.
Dunham's Grove, about six miles from Denison, was the first site settled in the county, and in the year 1849,
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cabins were built there for two fami- lies. From that point the process of colonization went slowly on, but many years elapsed before organization as a county was found practicable. In 1855, the first business of importance is recorded as having been transacted by county officials. Denison was lo- cated as the county seat, and a court house was erected in 1858. The build- ing is of brick, the county offices be- ing on the lower floor, and the upper floor being devoted to the court. The edifice cost $6,000, and it stands in a handsome square, surrounded by shade trees.
Five miles below Denison there is a curious group of nine mounds, and not, far from the same spot other groups are located. Their indications show that some were undoubtedly burial places, but it is probable that some were also places of human sacrifice.
DENISON is the county seat of Craw- ford county. The town is situated at the junction of the Boyer and the East Boyer rivers, near the geographical center. The ground on which Deni- son is built is not level, and the resi- dences, which are built upon the slopes rising from the rivers, command very beautiful stretches of country, which at some seasons of the year are sutti- cient to entrance the beholder. Civi- lization contributes its share to make the scene delightful, as the waves of the swift messenger which outstrips Ariel suggest the mighty interests of which they are bound to tell through the livelong years, and the railroads with their grades and bridges fetch and carry the commerce which would make even a desert blossom as the rose. The railroad has a station at the south end of the town, whence it starts off to the southwest, and when the fertile lands surrounding that abode of industry and enterprise have been fully developed, there will be few places more delightful upon this foot- stool. The town takes the name of its founder, who first laid it out in 1856. The county seat was located there at the same time. About seven hundred acres have been platted, the principal streets being one hundred feet wide and the other streets eighty. Proper provision has been made for public park reserves, and the town must therefore grow in beauty.
DELOIT is a village near Mason's
Grove, six miles from Denison, and the town was platted in 1857.
There are a few other villages and post stations at Boyer River, Dowville, Kiron, Vail and Westside.
Dallas County is one of the central counties of Iowa, and it is twenty-four miles square. The Des Moines river drains the northeast corner of the county, and Beaver creek, one of its affluents, completes that function for a large area, besides giving good water and a wide acreage of timber. The Raccoon river drains the largest share of the county, as it has tributary streams which stretch their arms eve. rywhere. North, Middle and South Raccoon are the largest of these branches, to which Bulgar, Panther and Musquito creeks are tributary streams. The Des Moines, with some affluents, is found again in many other sections of the county, consequently there is not a spot to be named which does not lie within a mile on either side of running water. Pilot lake, in Lincoln township, is one of the many lakes that dot the county, but the lake named above is the largest and most picturesque. There are some very fine mill sites on the Raccoon river, and some of the powers would be equal to the driving of very extensive machine- ry. The main stream comes from Storm lake, and is fed by numerous springs which run all the year, unless the frost king lays his edict upon the streams and does the work in which King Canute was an egregious failure. The north branch runs the entire length of the county, passing on its way over fifty sections of land. Mid- dle Raccoon is well adapted for the establishment of mills and other man- ufactories, and the beauty of the stream is suggestive in the highest degree to the poetic intellect. The purely prac- tical man looks only to the future and the realizable value which can be ob- tained from all these beauties; the words of the poet Keats: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," have for him no significance, unless they can be converted into greenbacks or specie payment, and it will be a comfort to men of that order to be assured that Dallas county can redeem all its prom- ises. Timber can be reached readily from the best prairie locations, and water is very plentiful. The native
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grasses are very nutritious and of | coal measure by the cunning hand of rapid growth, and the tame grasses al- nature. From the river beds named the country rises to the south, forming a great divide, which descends again to the North river, and then stretches out to the bounds of the county where it joins the county of Madison. ready tried have succceded marvelous- ly. Stock can be raised with certain- ty, and kept at little cost during the se- verest winters known, and there is no difficulty in conveying all produce to convenient markets. There are no Prairie lands prevail in this county, but the supply of timber is equal to one acre in every ten, a proportion which would suffice, with occasional renewals, even though lumbering were to be one of the main resources of Dallas county. sloughs nor morasses in this county, as the streams are so close together that drainage is perfect over almost all the soil. Springs are plentiful, issuing clear as crystal from innumerable beds of gravel in the bluffs which border some of its streams, and wells can be The uplands are coated with a rich black loam, and the valleys have in addition a large proportion of sand, and the bottom lands are fertile, with a warm soil mixed with gravel, which will grow almost anything that is planted. Wheat and corn are the sta- ples, but all cereals, vegetables and grasses thrive abundantly. Fruit has been cultivated successfully, but that branch of industry has not yet been pushed to any considerable extent, such as alone can enable the surplus product to become an article of com- merce. sunken at small cost with demonstra- ble certainty. There is a salt spring in the southwest of the county, which must have been visited during many centuries by herds of buffalo and other animals, attracted by its saline proper- ties. Nearly an acre of land in the neighborhood of the salt spring shows signs of having been worn down by the mighty beasts that came to them, guided by their mysterious instinct, to find medicine for their ailments and refreshing food for their blood. Sul- phur springs are not unknown in this county, and soft water springs, which gladden the housewife's heart, are quite numerous.
There are some curious features in the springs of this county, and it is probable that when settlement has pro- gressed there will be fashionable spas established, dispensing health and dis- sipation, as is the approved custom in Europe, where water is found with a flavor of warm flatirons.
Coal beds have been opened, and it seems probable that in fourteen town- ships it can be found in workable thicknesses. The measures opened so far have revealed from three to five feet veins of carboniferous deposit, and such quantities, easily procurable, must pay for extensive mining opera- tions. The quality is fully up to the average. Adel is mainly supplied with fuel from mines opened on the Raccoon rivers, and worked by a mere quarrying process; but the best coal yet found is on Middle Raccoon. The Des Moines has a good coal formation cropping out on its banks, but for suf- ficient reasons there has been but little labor yet expended in winning the de- posit.
The coal formations which underlie Dallas county have imparted a peculiar character to the surface of the country. The beds of the streams have been worn to great depths, and on the sides of the water courses the banks tower abruptly to great heights. Valleys, where they occur, are apt to be nar- row, and the ascents from the bottom Building stone is the next item to be sought in the inventory of a prosper- ous county, and in that respect Dallas county takes the lead of many of its neighbors, many valuable quarries having been opened, and a vast area of country offering facilities for further operations of the same kind. Sand- stone which can be easily dressed, and is found to be very desirable for build- ing purposes, is prime, favorable with architects and capitalists, and lime- lands declivitous. The northern por- tion of the county is more gently undu- lating, and west of the North Raccoon the surface descends into a broad, shal- · low depression, not deep enough to be called a valley, but sufficient to mark the peculiarity of the coal strata in this section of country. The county is high and tolerably level east of that river, but tending towards the deep vallies of the Raccoon and Des Moines, which are fashioned out of the middle I stone of a good kind for building or
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for burning is also very easily pro cured.
The Indian right to the territory did not die out until 1845; but before that date the hardy pioneers of civilization were on the land, drawn hither by the fine groves and other charms of the country. Settlement actually com- menced in 1846, the site of Adel town- ship being the locality selected by the first white family located here, as their permanent residence. Other families came after an interval of a few days, mostly from Illinois. Many locations were made in rapid succession, but it would burden our pages to follow the movements of every party, and we pre- fer to follow the larger movements of population and organization. The county was organized in 1847, and a place then known as Hickory, but now unknown in the topography of Dallas county, was an aspirant for the honor of being the county seat. The town of Adel was selected as the favored loca- tion, and the honor has been justified by subsequent events.
The railroads have assisted the de- velopment of Dallas county, as they do, when properly used, the growth of all localities in which there are rea- sonable inducements for human habi- tation. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific road runs through the south- ern townships and the Des Moines and Fort Dodge runs between Beaver creek and Raccoon river northwest- erly. With railroads there are custom- arily newspapers, and Dallas county is well provided.
ADEL, the county seat, is built on the west bank of North Raccoon river, on a semicircular plateau, from which some fine residence sites have been selected on the slopes that rise back of the business portion of the town. The situation is good. The elevations upon which the town must extend itself command delightful views of the Raccoon river valley and the fine bod- ies of timber for which that locality is famous. There are numerous well cultivated farms on the slopes and on the prairie adjacent, from which Adel must long continue to obtain the best part of its support. There are no broken lands near Adel, the prairies sloping gently to the river, with here and there a bank, or what is called in the Mormon country, Utah, a bench, which invites the erection of hand-
some and commodious residences. The town was laid out in 1847, when it became at once the county seat, all the business of the new organization being transacted in a log cabin erected by the county clerk. The population of Adel-once spelled Adall-is about one thousand souls, with bodies to cor- respond, the latter being most evident. The public schools are well adminis- tered, being graded in three depart- ments, and under the supervision of competent teachers. There are various churches in the town and all moder- ately well supported. Other institu- tions, literary and benevolent, flourish.
There are many other towns and vil- lages in the county, but none of such dimensions as to call for claborate de- scription; therefore, it will be well to complete our record by giving the names only of Dallas Center, Minburn, Perry, Boonville, Waukee, Van Meter, Dexter, De Soto, Wiscotta and Red- field. Dallas county contains within itself such an aggregate of nature's bounties that before long its villages must become cities, and its rivers pop- ulous with a flourishing industrial population.
Davis County is noted for its agri- culture and for the fine grazing farms of which it is the location. The area of the county is 315,290 acres. The Des Moines river waters its northeast corner, and by its tributaries, Soap Lick, Salt creek and Chequest creeks, it drains and renders fruitful a very extensive range. Fox river, North and South Wyacondah and the Sabins flow through the county on their way to the Mississippi, affording a plenti- ful water supply and good drainage, and along the several streams, belts and groves of good timber are very con- veniently located. Smooth prairies with just enough of rise and fall to secure adequate drainage constitute the divides.
The records of the county agricul- tural society show theremarkable fact that a premium was awarded during the second annual fair for the produc. tion of 138 bushels of corn from a sin- gle acre. In the following year the premium for production was awarded for 213 bushels from one acre, and wheat has been raised to the extent of forty bushels from one acre, the aver- age being nearly twenty. Farming is
CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHIL A.
Ina V. Kendall
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TUTTLE'S HISTORY OF IOWA.
well carried out iu Davis county, and ¡ the Des Moines river, and the trader the Keokuk and Des Moines railroad concerned therein located himself on the site since known as Iowaville, where he made a home. carries to good markets the surplus productions of the fertile and well used land. There is no county in Iowa which excels Davis for grazing and stock raising. Blue grass is a safe crop every time, but hay, timothy and clover are mainly relied on. Stock runs at large on many of the prairies and the wild grasses fatten as well as feed them, while there is no difficulty in their procuring as much good water as they desire. Splendid herds enrich the county in many of its sections, and add much to the beauty of the quiet scene.
Fruits of all kinds that can be pro- duced in temperate climates will grow in Davis county, and large quantities have actually been shipped. There are many vineyards in good bearing in this county, and many varieties flour- ish exceedingly well. The Osage or- ange hedge which comes to a sufficient growth in this county in five years, has attracted the attention of the farm- ing community, the advantages of such effort being already apparent in the changing aspects of the country. There is protection for stock and many other benefits may be found in the multiplication of such hedges on the prairies.
Davis county contains excellent coal measures, many of which are now be- ing worked in thicknesses not less than four feet, and eventually it will probably reckon among the best coal districts in the state of Iowa.
Stone for building purposes has been found in the best quality and admir- able quantities. Hydraulic cement is one of the deposits brought to light in Davis county, and there is an excel- lent blue tinted limestone, which de- serves notice for many qualitles.
The earliest settlers in this county came from several states and territo- ries, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois being among the number. The Sac and Fox Indians occupied the territory up to May, 1843, and they had the county almost to themselves, as few white settlers came to dispute with them their hunting ground. Some few squatters and others came as early as 1837, but nothing like a permanent settlement was made. Near a Sac and Fox Indian village in the following year a trading post was established on
Some famous Indian chiefs, Black Hawk and Keokuk among others, flour- ished in this country before and after the white man came among their tribes, but their memories alone remain among the traditions of an unprofit- able past. The first postoffice was es- tablished in 1842 within the bounds of "Black Hawk Purchase," the place be iug called Fox, but the record only re- mains. In 1844, the territorial legis- lature authorized a county organiza- tion, and the county seat having been located, the name of Bloomfield was given thereto by drawing lots.
BLOOMFIELD is the geographical center, and is therefore well adapted to be the county seat. The town is distant due south from Ottumwa, about nineteen miles. It stands in the midst of good agricultural land, and has good railroad facilities. The town was laid out in 1846, whereupon the postoffice was removed there from Lewiston, and a course of moderate, but substantial prosperity was entered upon. Improvements mark the yearly growth of the town, and many valu- able buildings have been erected for business purposes. The dwelling houses of some of the residents are costly and handsome, with great scenic advantages. The population of the town is about one thousand, and there are several newspapers published there. The schools are graded and very well conducted, the district hav- ing made very liberal appropriations to procure the best talent obtainable, and all the facilities requisite to secure the attention and promote the energies of pupils. The public school build- ing is very handsome and commodi- ous, occupying a prominent position and constituting the chief adornment of the town in which it has been built.
There is a normal and scientific in- stitution in Bloomfield which contrib- utes very materially to the high intel- lectnal status of the district. The bus- iness enterprise of Bloomfield is above the average of communities of that size.
DRAKEVILLE is six miles northwest of Bloomfield, on the Chicago and Southwestern railroad, doing a consid- erable shipping business for the agri-
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culturists in its vicinity and likely to increase very largely. The town has a well conducted weekly paper which is chiefty devoted to the wants of the farming interest, upon which Drake- ville almost entirely depends.
TROY is chiefly noticeable because of its normal school, which was estab- lished in 1856 by private enterprise, and has been well supported by the people of the county. The village owes to that institution its principal feature, but it is also the center of a good range of country, which is grad- ually attracting settlement, and is be- ing cultivated with very great success.
There are many other villages and post offices which have not yet grown into importance, but which promise to draw to themselves large populations in course of time, when the value of the country in which they respectively stand has become developed. They are named in the order of their relative im- portance: Albany, Ash Grove, Bel- knap, named in honor of the well known secretary, Bush, Chequest, Flor- is, Monterey, Oak Springs, Pulaski, Sa- vannah, Stiles and West Grove. This completes the record to date of Davis county.
Decatur County is in southern Iowa and contains five hundred And forty square miles of the best tim bered land in the state. Hardly a township can be found in Decatur without a fair average of timbercd land, and large quantities of hard maple being in the several groves, much sugar is ob- tained annually. Otherwise the cus- tomary varieties of timber prevail in this county. Wild fruits grow abund- antly and the shrubs which flourish are those which customarily are found in deep rich soil.
Decatur county has numerous water courses, which pass through the coun- try at convenient distances from each other, as though some river artificer had planned the area to meet the views of the agriculturist and raiser of stock. Many of the streams give mill sites of exceptional value, but these facts will best appear in their proper order in a brief enumeration of the several streams and tributaries.
Grand river flows through the coun- try bearing southeast, and many ad- mirable mill sites upon its banks have been improved, the works being now
in profitable operation. Elk creek, one of the best tributaries of Grand river, comes from the northwest of the county, and is also adapted for mills, besides draining and watering a very valuable country. Another tributary of some volume is Long creek which comes from the north, a good stream for the powers which it offers to man- ufacturers as well as in other respects. The body of water joins Grand river near the city of Decatur. The next principal stream to the east is Little Grand river flowing across the county nearly due north and south, having several tributaries which cover, drain and water a splendid territory, and bear much timber. Weldon fork is properly part of Grand river and is a stream of very considerable size flowing through the townships of Garden Grove, High Point, Woodland and Morgan. Many excellent sites upon this stream have been turned to account, but still more await occupation. Steel's creek is one of its affluents. Many other streams might be named, but enough has been said to show that the river system of Decatur is well nigh perfect, and sufficiently liberal to account for the bountiful timber supply enjoyed in this part of the state. Fine springs are numerous in all parts of the coun- ty, and wells often strike good water at fifteen feet, but in some districts. they have to be carried to more than twice that depth.
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