USA > Iowa > Adair County > History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
213
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
stormy times. He was also postmaster for several years during the early days, when the salary amounted to about ten dollars a year. He also served as justice of the peace. Mr. Littleton is still living at Riverside, Cal., having retired from business several years ago.
D. N. Dunlap was born in Sangamon County, Ill., on November 17, 1838, of English and Scotch stock. He served during the Rebel- lion in Company B of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Regi- ment. He performed very meritorious service and saw much hard action. In 1867 he married Mary A. Shannon of New York. Mr. Dunlap lived for many years in Warrensburg and Decatur, Ill., where he was engaged in the grain business and farming and he then came to Fontanelle, while this country was still new. He engaged in the grain business at Fontanelle and built the first elevator there.
Two of the most notable characters in the history of Adair County were Mrs. Nancy Fort and Mrs. Thankful Priddy, twin sisters, who were born in Hancock County, Ind., in the year 1821, July 21, and lived to be over ninety years of age. They were married in their native county and then the two families came west and settled in Jasper County. During October, 1867, they moved to farms in Adair County, where their families were raised to manhood and womanhood.
J. N. Haddock, an early citizen of Greenfield, was born in Phila- delphia and in 1858 came to Iowa City, Ia., and there engaged in the study of law until 1861 when he returned to Philadelphia and served on guard duty. In 1865 he returned to Iowa and completed his law course and was admitted to the bar. He was married to Ann J. Smiley in May, 1862. He came to Fontanelle in 1873 and to Green- field in 1875 when the county seat was moved to the latter place. At Fontanelle he formed a partnership with J. H. Bailey. In 1878 he was elected clerk of the District Court of the county and served six years in this capacity. After leaving the clerk's office he formed a partnership with A. L. Hager which continued until the latter's removal to Des Moines. For a number of years he was member of the board of insanity. He served as mayor of Greenfield for four years. Mr. Haddock died July 1, 1911, at Cambridge, N. Y., at the home of his daughter.
James M. Gow, a native of Washington, Washington County, Pa., came to Adair County in the fall of 1870 in company with his brother, George L. He first settled in Fontanelle and shortly started the Adair County Reporter in partnership with James C. Gibbs. In 1875 this paper was moved to Greenfield, although Mr. Gow still
214
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
resided in Fontanelle. In 1881 he removed to the county seat. In 1889 the Reporter was merged with the Transcript and the business was carried on by Mr. Gow in partnership with C. B. Hunt and afterwards with A. J. Schrader. In 1900 the Transcript was sold to H. P. Gow and James M. Gow then devoted his time to his farm- ing interests until the time of his death.
Franklin Letts, one of the very first business men to come to Greenfield, was born in New York State in 1832. He moved to Michigan and afterwards to Ohio and Illinois. In 1858 he married Jane E. Raymond of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. In 1862 he enlisted in Com- pany D, One Hundred and Second Illinois Infantry and in 1868 he came overland to Adair County and to Greenfield where he resided until his death on April 9, 1911. When Mr. Letts first came to Greenfield the A. P. Littleton store was the only one in the town. He pursued the blacksmith trade most of the time here, in company with Blakeley.
John J. Hetherington was a native of Pennsylvania and after he received his education, engaged in clerical work in Pottsville. He served during the Civil war in the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania In- fantry and by his valorous services won a medal from the state. He was married to Rebecca Stilwell at Chicago on April 21, 1864. To them were born four children: Charles, Jessie, George and Bessie. On March 17, 1863 he went to Atchison, Kan., where he spent four and a half months, then came to Fontanelle, this county, where he engaged in the abstract and land business and began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1869. He had seen considerable service as deputy clerk when, in 1872, he was elected to the office of clerk of the District Court, serving therein three successive terms. In 1875 he removed to Greenfield and there continued in the land and abstract business, the firm being Hetherington & McCollum. He also filled the office of county judge, serving the unexpired term of his predecessor and one full term. He engaged in the banking busi- ness with Mr. Bevington and A. P. Littleton and helped organize the Citizens Bank of Greenfield. He remained in the banking busi- ness for seventeen years, and then retired, only to be appointed post- master of Greenfield, which position he filled for four years. He was the first worshipful master of the Crusade Lodge No. 386, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Greenfield. Mr. Hethering- ton died in 1910.
Daniel Heaton, a Pennsylvanian, came to Adair County in 1875 and started the Adair County Bank at Greenfield. It was the first
215
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
bank in the county. Mr. Heaton became sole proprietor of this institution in 1887 and then built the structure which at present houses the institution. He was also one of the organizers of the Exchange Bank at Fontanelle and was at one time its president. Mr. Heaton died at his home in Wichita, Kan., on June 17, 1907.
John G. Culver came to Fontanelle in the early '70s and took charge of the high school. While teaching here he began the study of law with Galen F. Kilburn and after two years' time entered Kilburn's office and took charge of the land business. On the removal of the county seat to Greenfield Mr. Kilburn took his office to that place, leaving it under the management of Mr. Culver, he himself going to Creston to reside. Shortly afterward Mr. Culver was admitted to the bar and became one of the leading lawyers in the county. His death occurred January 8, 1907, at the age of fifty- eight years.
James C. Gibbs was born in the State of New York on Decem- ber 3, 1820. He engaged in farming until 1855, when he determined to come west and seek a home. In June he arrived in Adair County and as they were just laying out the county seat he decided to cast his fortunes in that place, then called Summerset, now Fontanelle. He bought a lot and constructed a cabin and in August of the same year brought his family to his new home. He was the first settler in the township. He lived in the town for many years, being engaged in the various businesses of hotel keeping, newspaper, mercantile and real estate. In 1856 he was made postmaster of Fontanelle and held the position for two years. In the spring of 1857 he was elected school fund commissioner and held this office also for two years. IIe was deputy clerk at one time, county judge and in 1867 county treas- urer. In 1862 he raised a company in Adair County for service in the War of the Rebellion, which was afterwards known as Company D, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, of which he was commissioned cap- tain, but after being in camp for about six months he was compelled to resign on account of sickness. He was married September 9, 1846, to Phoebe L. Filer and to them were born seven children, five surviving him: Josephine, Alanson O., Gertrude I., Lillian A. and Charles A., who were with him at the time of his death in 1907. The deceased moved his family to his farm in Summerset Township in 1878 and lived there until the fall of 1890 when he and his wife came to Greenfield. They lived here until the death of Mrs. Gibbs in 1894, after which he made his home with his many children. He was a char- ter member of the Fontanelle Masonic Lodge.
216
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
William D. McCollum was born in Vermont in 1856 and when about eighteen years of age came to Jefferson Township, Adair County, where he remained one year and taught school during the winter months. In 1875 he was appointed deputy county auditor and located in Fontanelle. When the county seat was moved he also came to Greenfield He was elected county surveyor in 1877 and served for two years. At the end of this time he engaged in the land and abstract business in Greenfield. He served three terms as mayor of Greenfield, and was city treasurer at the time of his death on June 21, 1913. He was married in 1877 to Myra Peat of Greenfield and four children were born to them: Marian C., Howe D., H. Glenn and Fausta. This wife died in 1898 and in 1900 Mr. McCollum was married to Mary Romesha of Greenfield. Two children were born to them: William D. and Mary Ellen.
$
CHAPTER XXVIII GEOGRAPHICAL REPORT ON ADAIR COUNTY
By James Willis Gow
The following report by Mr. Gow was written shortly before his death in 1913. The state department of geology did not know of the existence of the manuscript until it was accidentally discovered among his papers after his demise. The publishers of the Iowa County His- tory are obliged to the Iowa State Department of Geology and to Prof. George F. Kay, state geologist, for the use of this creditable report.
Adair County is located in the third tier of counties north of the southern boundary of Iowa, and in the third tier east of the west- ern boundary of the state. It is a square, consisting of sixteen geographical townships, and is bounded on the north by Guthrie County, on the east by Madison, on the south by Adams and Union and on the west by Cass. To the northeast and northwest it corners with Dallas and Audubon, respectively. Adair is essentially a prai- rie county. Lying well to the south of the Wisconsin lobe, whose moraine passes through Guthrie County, it shows no trace of con- structional topography. It is thoroughly dissected by streams and its drainage system is complete. Its soil consists of typical Kansas till and its rolling topography is typically Kansan. The grand divide between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers passes through Adair County in an almost due northwest-southeasterly direction, so divid- ing it that approximately one-third of the county lies to the north- east of the divide and two-thirds to the southwest. Owing to the extremely dissected character of the topography, the "draws," or shallow valleys in which the smaller streams take their rise, interlock along the crest of the divide, so that the latter is very crooked. The county drains on the north and east through North River, Middle River and Grand River; on the south and west through the East and Middle Nodaway rivers. North and Middle rivers flow into the Des
217
218
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Moines, and so form part of the Mississippi drainage system. Grand River and the Nodaways flow into the Missouri. Of these streams, Middle River and Bush Branch (a small tributary of Middle River) are the only ones that cut to bedrock in Adair County. Grand River cuts through bedrock in Madison County not very far from the county lines. The Nodaway cuts into bedrock near Mount Etna, in Adams County, and north of that point flows over a clay bed.
PREVIOUS GEOLOGICAL WORK
In 1849 Owen probably passed through the southern part of Adair County, or skirted along its southern border, on his way from Des Moines to Council Bluffs. In his "Report of a Geological Sur- vey of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota," published in 1852, Owen thus describes this portion of the journey:
"On the Grand River, in the vicinity of Pisgah, nothing but drift is to be seen. Some miles down the river, however, near a millsite, I was told by the Mormons that a kind of "soapstone" could be found at a low stage of water, which I supposed to be an indurated argil- laceous shale; these deposits being popularly known by that name in the west. This I was unable to examine in person; indisposition, from fatigue and exposure, having brought on a relapse of intermit- tent fever, contracted while exploring the Des Moines.
The distances from Fort Des Moines to Pisgah are as follows:
To the crossing of North River 16 miles
To Middle River 12
To the South or Clanton Fork of Middle River 2
To Clanton's 2 To Big Hollow 14
To forks of road leading to Bellevue 4
To Pisgah 6
Total distance 50 miles
"On the route from Pisgah to Council Bluffs, I crossed Grand River, the Platte Branch of Grand River, two branches of the Noda- way, A Hundred and Two River, and the east, middle and west branches of the Nishnabotna River. It was only on this latter stream that any rocks were found in place."
The writer cannot find that the memory of any such place as Pisgah lives at this time, though he has not had the privilege of inter-
219
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
viewing all the old settlers of the region in question. From the some- what detailed table of distance given by Owen the place can be approximately located and it must have been at or near the site of the present Village of Macksburg, in Madison County. Scattering exposures of shale occur in that neighborhood. The reference to the mill site would seem to indicate Macksburg as the site of Pisgah. Owen's journey from Pisgah to Council Bluffs probably took him through the southern edge of what is now Adair County, but in the latter region he found no indurated rocks.
In 1868, White made some observations on the geology of Adair County, and these were published in his "Geology of Iowa," volume I, pages 336 to 339. In this report he described in considerable detail exposures of carboniferous rock found on sections 11 and 12 in Grove Township, a bed of modern peat in section 22 of Summerset Town- ship, and other points of interest. White's work is useful to the geologist of the present day and reference will be made to it in the pages of this report.
In the late '70s a geological survey of Adair County was under- taken by Fox, but the work was barren of results and was soon abandoned.
In 1894, Keyes, in the Second Annual Report of the Iowa Geo- logical Survey, reported on the presence of coal in Adair County. Further reference will be made to this report.
In 1911 Norton and Simpson reported on the underground waters and deep wells of Adair County, in volume XXI of the Iowa Reports. This article embodies data with regard to eighteen deep wells in various parts of the county.
The writer began work on the geology of Adair County in 1901, under direction of the state geologist, the late Prof. Samuel Calvin. In 1902 it was found necessary to drop the work for the time being and it was not possible to take it up again until 1912, when it was resumed and pushed to completion.
ELEVATIONS ABOVE SEA LEVEL
The official elevation as given for Greenfield was taken as a stand- ard, the figures being supplied by the officials of the C., B. & Q. Railway, and after the aneroid had been set in accordance with this datum, readings were taken at the other points as indicated below. The readings for Stuart, Casey, Adair and Fontanelle were verificd
220
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
by comparison with Gannett's Index of Elevations, and were found to be in substantial agreement.
Railway station at Stuart. 1,216
66 66
Casey 1,248
Adair 1,442
Orient . 1,334
66
" Greenfield .. 1,368
66
Fontanelle .1,244 (old station)
.. 1,282 (new station)
66
Bridgewater 1,188
Summerset Township:
S. E. 1/4 sec. 14. 1,278
W. line N. W. 1/4 sec. 13. 1,388
N. W. corner sec. 13. 1,298
E. line S. E. 14 sec. 18. . 1,282 Jackson Township: S. E. 14 sec. 34. 1,198
-
Washington Township:
S. E. 14 sec. 16. 1,155
Union Township:
S. E. 1/4 sec. 16. 1,312
S. E. 14 sec. 1. 1,079
Jefferson Township:
S. E. 1/4 sec. 31. .1,361
Grove Township:
S. E. 1/4 sec. 19. 1,360
S. W. 1/4 sec. 1. 1,098
N. W. 14 sec. 12. 1,098
Harrison Township:
W. line S. E. 1/4 sec. 18. 1,068
S. E. 14 sec. 20. 1,060
S. E. 14 sec. 21. 1,038
S. E. 1/4 sec. 27. 988
S. E. 1/4 sec. 26. 943
N. E. 1/4 sec. 36. 940
EXPOSURES AND DEEP SHAFTS
The C., B. & Q. Railway in Adair County follows the crest of the divide as far north as Greenfield. The track is very crooked, heads
221
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
practically every "draw" in the entire twenty miles from Creston to Greenfield, and there are consequently no cuts in that distance. At Greenfield it drops into the valley of the Nodaway, which it follows as far as Fontanelle, there being some culverts and bridges but no cuts in the seven miles between the two towns. West of Fontanelle are a few shallow cuts in the drift.
The C., R. I. & P. Railway skirts along the northern edge of the county, and there are a number of rather deep cuts along its right of way. These never extend below the Kansan drift, but are useful as offering an opportunity to study the drift in vertical section.
The working of the roads in every part of the county has led to the making of many shallow cuts of from two to fifteen feet in depth, and much of the information with regard to the surface clays of the county has been derived from this source. As a rule it is best to study the cut immediately after it has been made, as a very few rains cause a washing of the clay that obscures things, but very often a few min- utes' work with a spade is sufficient to reveal the underlying materials in their natural relations. Natural gullies developing in pasture and meadows occasionally make it possible to secure information regarding the underlying materials.
The various branches of the Nodaway dissect the western half of the county but do not cut below the drift. At most points the drift is masked by alluvium, but there are some good exposures. In the eastern part of the county Middle River cuts through the Kansan drift and into the carboniferous limestone below. At half a dozen points between Parry's Quarry and the county line the river flows over a rock bottom, the bottom at intervening points consisting of clay, sand or alluvium. Between the disposition of the carboniferous strata and the advance of the ice sheet was an immense interval of elevations and consequent erosion, and the present exposures of car- boniferous rock represent the summits of the hills of the old eroded carboniferous land surface. The Kansan drift rests unconformably upon this eroded surface. Nebraskan and Aftonian materials underly the Kansan at many points in Adair County, but no trace of them is to be found in the Middle River exposures.
Most of the wells in this county do not penetrate into the bedrock, but merely reach "hardpan" or stiff, impermeable Kansan clay. The writer secured data with reference to eleven wells which penetrate below the level of the drift, reaching either carboniferous or creta- ceous rock. Besides these eleven, eight more are reported by Simpson in Norton's report on the ground waters of Iowa. With regard to
222
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
most of these nineteen wells the available data are extremely meager. In only one case was a complete and accurate record of the section preserved. Data regarding the shallower wells are more readily obtained and throw some light on the relations of the various clays, sands and gravels making up the complex Kansan drifts. It is through an examination of these wells also that the evidence as to the presence of the Aftonian in Adair County has been chiefly brought to light.
There is but one mine shaft in the county, and while it is not now accessible for examination, the writer has been able to obtain an authentic record of this section.
EXPOSURES EAST OF THE DIVIDE
As has been said, the sections east of the divide include only two classes of material, Kansan drift and carboniferous rock. The car- boniferous rocks of Adair County belong to the Bethany or lower- most member of the Missourian stage. Rocks belonging to this forma- tion crop out at many points in Southwestern Iowa and Northern Missouri, the name being taken from Bethany, Mo., where they were first studied and where typical exposures occur. They are charac- terized by the nodular or fragmental character of some of the strata, by the presence of soft clays and light shales in connection with the harder nodular fragments, while interstratified with these materials are bands of fairly hard massive limestone. Partings of dark blue or black shale are common, separating the materials just mentioned. and some coal is occasionally present. Fragmental materials are par- ticularly abundant in the lower portion of the Bethany, the massive limestone being nearly if not absolutely lacking, and this portion has been named the fragmental limestone. Above the fragmental lime- stone comes the Earlham limestone, a massive, light colored limestone that breaks or weathers in rectangular blocks and has occasional part- ings of light shale, while bands and nodules of chert are often present. Above the Earlham comes, in ascending order, the Winterset, De Kalb and Westerville limestones, these five members making up the Beth- any. The Missourian rocks of eastern Adair County belong to the two lowermost members, the fragmental limestone and the Earlham limestone.
The first exposures investigated are on the west side of Middle River at Perry's Quarry in the northeastern corner of Grove Town-
223
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
ship. The rock is exposed in a ravine which approaches the river from the west. At two points, near the river on the north side of the ravine, and about fifty rods back from the river on the south side of the ravine, quarrying operations have been carried on in the past but were discontinued some years ago. The bottom of the ravine is flat, being in fact the flood plain of an intermittent brook which has cut in the middle of the plain a narrow gulley some three to five feet in depth. In the bottom of this gulley is exposed a stratum of brittle black slate. The section exposed on the south side of the valley, including the slate found in the gulley, is as follows :
10. Kansan drift 5 feet
9. Massive limestone, non-fossiliferous, rec- tangular weathering 4
8. Soft, light gray shale. 1
7. Limestone, buff to white, with narrow partings of light shale 2
6. Soft, light gray shale. 10 inches
5. Limestone, similar to No. 7. 3 feet
4. Soft shale, gray to brown. 1
3. Massive limestone without shale 3
2. Hidden by alluvium 10
1. Hard, black slate 3 inches
Total 29 feet, 13 inches
The exposure nearer the river and on the opposite side of the gulley is practically identical with the one just given, except that a band of chert is found in the massive limestone five feet above the foot of the cliff. At either end the chert is concealed by talus. It is probably a lenticular mass of no great extent. Specimens of Athyris subtilita, Spirifer cameratus and Productus nebrascensis were found in the massive limestone of both of these exposures. The shale is non- fossiliferous. Some calcite crystals are present in the massive lime- stone. The Perry's Quarry exposures are mentioned by White in his "Geology of Iowa," page 336 of volume I, but no details are given. A third exposure, similar to those at Perry's Quarry, is found in the same section (12, Grove Township) and less than half a mile down the river. This is in the valley of the little tributary spoken of by
224
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
White as "Drake's Creek." The elevation is the same as that of Perry's Quarry and the section is as follows :
4. Kansan drift 5 feet
3. Light buff limestone with frequent shaly partings, varying in thickness from 1/4 inch to 1 foot. 12 feet
2. Heavy dark cherty limestone. 5 inches
1. Darker limestone, without chert, and without shaly partings 5 feet
Total . 22 feet 5 inches
The Perry's Quarry and Drake's Creek limestones and shales are referred to the Earlham formation, the nature and arrangement of materials tallying with that observed in the limestones exposed at Earlham in Madison County.
White, in the "Geology of Iowa," volume I, pages 336-339, described another exposure on Drake's Creek, which, according to his account, extended twenty-seven feet below the level of the expo- sure at Perry's Quarry, and the one just given. Of this I have been able to find no trace. The section as given by White is as follows:
6. Black carbonaceous shale, a few inches at top consisting 2 feet
of impure coal
5. Marly clay 1% foot
4. Hard, bluish, impure limestone 1 foot
3. Brownish clayey shale 1 foot
2. Hard, dark-colored, impure limestone 1% foot
1. Fine-grained, micaceous, sandy shale, becoming darker and more clayey at the top. 22 feet
Total 27 feet
White regarded this as equivalent with the fragmental limestone of Decatur County, and this interpretation is doubtless correct, as the latter includes more or less clay which is sometimes sandy. While he does not report actual fragmental materials from the Drake's Creek section, the materials reported are strictly similar to those usually found in connection with the fragmental materials at other localities.
225
HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Following on down Middle River, the next exposure is on the Keating farm just above Port Union, and within sight of the mill at the latter place. On a sloping bank fifteen feet above the low-water level stands a large boulder of hard, well cemented breccia. Although the hillside is badly masked by drift, an examination shows that the bedrock at this point consists of similar breccia, but the exposure is so unsatisfactory on account of the mantle of drift that it is impossible to say how far up and down the valley it extends. It appears to dip sharply to the southwest. The fragments of which this breccia con- sists are of a fine-grained, light buff limestone, are quite angular, and vary in size from a quarter of an inch up to eight or ten inches in diameter. The cementing material is similar but somewhat coarser in texture, and inclined to be crystalline. A few broken specimens of Athyris subtilita appear in the angular fragments of the breccia.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.