History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history, Part 36

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918

USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 36

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BEE HUNTING.

This wild recreation was a peculiar one and many a sturdy pioneer gloried in ex- celling in this art. He would carefully watch a bee as it filled itself with the product of some sweet flower or leaf bud or water and notice particularly the direc- tion taken by it as it struck a "bee-line" for its home, which, when found, would generally be high up in the hollow of some tree. The tree would be marked, and in the fall a party would go and cut down the tree and capture the honey as quick as they could before it wasted away through the broken walls in which it had been so carefully stowed by the busy lit- tle bee. Several gallons would often be

taken from a single tree, and by a very little work, and pleasant at that, the early settlers could keep themselves in honey the year round. By the time the honey was a year old it would turn white and granulate, yet be as good and healthful as when fresh. This was called by somc "candied" honey.

Another plan of finding the nest was to take a little honey in a box, and burn it a little, so that it would scent the air. This never failed to draw bees if there were aay near. Then the box would be put away and the bee followed. Every now and then the hunter would make some mark with his foot so that if he lost the bee he could "take a sight," and by following exactly the direction of the bee could find the honey, for the bees fly as straight as a bullet.

SNAKES.

In pioneer times snakes were numerous, such as the rattlesnake, massasauga, many varieties of large blue snake, garter, water snake and others. A few rattlesnakes were found in this region, and some very large ones, but they were not very numer- ous. The massasauga, which is often confused with the rattlesnake, were very plenty. They are an ugly looking snake, from eighteen inches to two feet in length, clumsy, and of a dirty brown color. They have three or four rattles, which they use as a warning. They are poisonous, but it was very seldom, if ever, that their bites prove fatal, or even resulted in much in- convenience to the unfortunate. A weed called "Indigo Weed,", which grows in this country, was much used for the bites, the recipe having been learned from an old Indian. Others found it just as effec_

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tual a cure to bury the foot-if that was the part bitten-in the cold mud for half an hour, pouring water upon it to keep up the moisture.

RELIGION.

The religious element in the life of the pioneer, was such as to attract the atten- tion of those living in more favored places. The pioneer was no hypocrite. If he believed in horse-racing, whisky- drinking, card-playing, or anything of like character, he practiced them openly and above board. If he was of a religious turn of mind, he was not ashamed to own it. He could truthfully sing,

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or blush to speak His name."

But the pioneer clung to the faith of his fathers, for a time, at least. If he was a Presbyterian he was not ashamed of it, but rather prided himself on being one of the elect. If a Methodist, he was one to the fullest extent. He prayed long and loud, if the spirit moved him, and cared nothing for the empty form of re- ligion.

AGRICULTURE.

In the earlier settlement of this section, ponds, marshes and swamps abounded, where to-day are found cultivated and fer- tile fields. the low and flat places were avoided for the higher grounds, not only on account of the wetness, but for sani- tary reasons. Agricultural implements and the mode of tilling the soil were nec- essarily much more rude than at the pres- ent day.

In the cultivation of wheat the land was planted the same as to-day, then it was often harrowed with a wooden-toothed harrow, or smoothed by dragging over

the ground a heavy brush, weighed down, if necessary, with a stick of timber. It was then sown broadcast by hand, at the rate of about a bushel and a quarter to the acre, and harrowed in with the brush. The implement used to cut the wheat was either the sickle or the cradle. The sickle was almost identical with the "grass hook" in use, and the cradle was a scythe fastened to a frame of wood, with long, bending teeth, or strips of wood, for cut- ting and laying the grain in swaths. There were few farmers who did not know how to swing the scythe or cradle, and there was no more pleasant picture on a farm than a gang of workmen in the harvest field, nor a more hilarious crowd. Three cradles would cut about ten acres a day. One binder was expected to keep up with the cradle. Barns for the stor- age of the unthreshed grain are compara- tively a "modern invention," and as soon as the shock was supposed to be suffi- ciently cured, it was hauled to some place on the farm convenient for threshing, and there put in stack. The threshing was performed in one of the two ways, by flail or tramping with horses. The flail was used in stormy weather, on the sheltered floor, or when the farm work was not pressing; the threshing by tramping com- monly in clear weather, on a level and well tramped clay floor. The bundles were piled in a circle of about fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, and four to six horses driven over the straw. One or two hands turned over and kept the straw in place. When sufficiently tramped the straw was turned into a rick or stack, and the wheat cleared by a "fanning mill," and before fanning mills were introduced,

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by letting it fall from the height of ten or twelve feet, subjected to the action of the wind, when it was supposed to be ready for the mill or market.

THE CLAIM SYSTEM.

During the first few years of the early settlement of this country, the United States government encouraged the claim system. This induced many speculators to turn their eyes toward the Western States. It furnished lucrative business for many who had been hovering between civilization and barbarism. Their plan was to keep just beyond the line of set- tlement and pick out the best claims, holding them until some actual settler or speculator would come, then they would sell out again and move westward to re- peat the same. The law provided that the land should be sold to the highest bid- der, but not for less than $1.25 per acre,

and it was seldom sold for more than this. It was generally understood, and, in fact, enforced, that those who had selected a certain piece of land should have it. One township of land was sold each day. The sales took place in Des Moines. When the day set for the sale of a town- ship came, all those who had established claims in the township in question were present. As soon as the bid reached $1.25 per acre, the hammer came down instantly. If a rash speculator did now and then get in a bid for a little more, some- times no attention was paid to him by the auctioneer, and the land would be knocked down to the claimant, but the person who did bid against the actual settler would be "laid hold of," and would re- ceive a severe ducking in the river. In some cases like this the obnoxious bidders have been almost killed by the "settlers' rights men."

CHAPTER VI.

REMINISCENSES, INCIDENTS AND PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS.

The following account of personal mat- ters is given to show the mode of life, the disadvantages under which the new settlers labored, and the incidents and stories of early life in the county of Cass, during the embryoic stage of its growth. Whatever of romance adhered to the

lives of the hardy colonists, was abun- dantly compensated for by hard work. Contrast the journey of that devoted party through the roadless and bridgeless tract between civilization and their future home, with a company on a like journey to day. Instead of weeks of labor and

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toil, privation and suffering, with cold and hunger, a seat is taken in a palace car, in Chicago, an nnexceptional supper is par- taken of without leaving the train, the passenger retires upon a downy couch, and in the morning wakes to find himself at his point of destination in central or western Iowa, having only lost half a day on his journey. Those who enjoy these blessings, would be less than human if they were not filled with gratitude to these early settlers, who paved the way, and actually made the present state of things possible. At that time the con- fines of civilization was on the Missis- sippi river. Davenport had but a few hundreds over a thousand, and Burling- ton just beginning to be a tolerable vil- lage, and Des Moines was a mere vidette, an outpost of civilization. There was little in the now great State of Iowa, ex- cept the intrinsic merit of the location, to attract people from their more or less comfortable homes in the east, or on the other side of the water. The hope as to the future, which "springs eternal in the human breast," lured them on, and al- though those that came were usually re- garded by the friends they left, as sol- diers of fortune, who, if they ever re- turned at all, would indeed be fortunate. They were a sturdy race, who realized the struggles in the older States or countries, and resolved to plant themselves where merit would not be suppressed by tradi- tions.

The men who came were, as a rule, en- terprising, openhearted and sympathizing; they were good neighbors, and so, good neighborhoods were created, and they il- lustrated the idea of the true brother-

hood of man more by example than by quoting creeds, with a bravery that never blanched before the most appalling dan- ger; they were, nevertheless, tender, kind and considerate, in the presence of mis- fortune, and their deficiency in outward manifestations of pity was more than compensated by their love and regard for humanity. And if this meed of praise is justly due to the men, and it certainly is, what shall be said of the heroic women who braved the vicissitudes of frontier life, endured the absence of home, friends and old associations, the severing of whose tender ties must have wrung all hearts. The devotion which would lead to such a breaking away, to follow a father, a hus- band or son into the trackless waste be- yond the Mississippi, where gloomy ap- prehensions must have arisen in the mind, cansing hope to waver and the heart to sink with dread, is above all praise. The value of the part taken by the noble women who first came to this uninhabited region cannot be over-estimated. Al- though by nature liberal, they practiced economy, and often at critical times pre- served order, reclaiming the men from despair during gloomy periods; and their example of industry constantly admon- ished them to renewed and strenuous ef- forts to save the west from a relapse into barbarism. This tendency was supposed to result from the disruption of social and religious ties, the mingling of heteroge- neons elements, and the removal of the external restraints, so common, and sup- posed to be so patent in older communi- ties. Dr. Bushnell did not have a suffi- ciently extended view of the subject, for, in looking over the history of the past, it

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is found that in a nomadic condition there is never any real progress in refinement. Institutions for the elevation of the race must be planted deep in the soil before they can raise their heads in beauty and majesty towards heaven, and bear fruit for the enlightenment of nations. The evils of which Dr. Bushnell was so afraid are merely temporary in their character, and will have no lasting impression. What actually happens is this: At first there is an obvious increase in human freedom, but the element of self-government every- where largely predominates,and the fusion of the races, which is inevitable, will in due time create a composite nationality, or a race as unlike as it must be superior to those that have preceded it. Even now, before the first generation has passed away, society in the west has outgrown the irri- tation of transplanting, and there are no more vicious elements in society here than in the east, as the criminal statutes will abundantly show.

In this connection are given the person- al experiences of the pioneers of Cass county. These articles are written or re- lated by the pioneers, and when written, the compiler has in no case attempted to change or vary the style of the writer, it being the design to show the peculiarity of the writer, as well as to record the facts narrated. These reminiscences are inter- esting and well worthy of perusal.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A PIONEER. (R. D. McGeehon.)

In Cass county, as most every where else, the first settlers always located in the edges of the groves, or near by them. This they did to getshelter for their stock

and to be convenient to the timber when fuel was needed.

The opening of the road from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, by the way of Dalmanutha and Morrison's Grove, and the placing of a line of four horse coaches, making daily trips upon it, brought a large emigration through that part of the county, and made, for the set- tlers, a market for their surplus produce. The stage stock needed hay and corn; the passengers had to be fed, and these made a demand for what they had to sell. In the spring of the year, long trains of wagons passing by daily, bound for the land of gold-California and Oregon- which, also, made a demand for all the corn, oats, hay, potatoes, etc., that we had to spare. Corn brought from fifty cents to a dollar a bushel; hay, ten to fifteen dollars a ton; potatoes, fifty cents to a dollar per bushel; butter, twenty to thirty cents a pound, and other things in propor- tion. These prices will, no doubt look high, but it must be taken into considera- tion that these early settlers had had to pay from two to two dollars and a half a bushel for corn, and twenty dollars a ton for hay when they arrived here them- selves, in the spring of 1851 and 1852, or even in 1853, the corn then being hauled . here, with ox teams from points in Mis- souri, a hundred and twenty-five miles distant.

In December, 1852, Morris Hoblitt went to Glenwood, Mills county, Iowa, a distance of sixty miles, with three yoke of oxen and a wagon for provisions for me. He camped on the way, and on leav- ing his last camp before reaching Glen-

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

wood, which was still seven miles distant, on the morning of the 17th, it was rain- ing. Suddenly the wind shifted into the northeast, and it became bitter cold, while the wind blew a perfect gale. In a few minutes Hoblitt's clothes became frozen stiff, and the ground a perfect sheet of ice. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he succeeded in reaching the village for which he was bound, and that in a nearly perishing condition. The storm lasted for three days without intermis- sion, and was one of the severest ever ex- perienced in the northwest. It is yet known by old settlers, all over this part of the State, as the "Sudden change" or "Severe storm of December 17, 1852. On the 18th of November,. 1852, I crossed the Nishnabotna river, at a ford just above the mouth of Turkey creek, with three yoke of oxen and a loaded wagon, on the ice, and the snow was about ten inches deep. By the morning of the 20th, snow had fallen enough to make it two and a half feet deep, in the timber, where it had not drifted. The night of January 1, 1853, a son of Adam Vinnage, about twelve years old, died, and was buried on a high spot of ground in the prairie near the house, and the ground was frozen to the bottom of the grave, which was five ·feet deep. The forepart of that winter was very severe, but from the last week in January until spring, it was pleasant winter weather. The winter of 1856-7 was the severest one known to the oldest settlers. The month of November was bright and beautiful up to the last day, but, on the 1st of December, the wind shifted into the northwest and it com- menced snowing, and it snowed and blew

for three days, growing colder and colder every day. When the wind had died down, and the snow had ceased to fall, the thermometer showed a temperature of about thirty degrees below zero, and the snow lay about two feet deep where not drifted, but in places it stood in great heaps ten to fifteen feet deep.

During the fall of 1856, D. A. Barnett and I bought a steam saw mill in St. Louis, and had it shipped by steamboat to Council Bluffs. When the boat reached St. Joseph, Missouri, it unloaded the inill there. About the 22d of November, seven teams started to bring it here. Of these, six were horse teams and one oxen. The latter to haul the boiler. They were gone from three to five weeks, and all of them did not bring home what would have been one good two horse load, on good roads. Peter Kanawyer drove the ox team, and hauled the boiler as far as Lewis. In crossing the prairie, south- west of that town, he lost his course, there being no road, and had to abandon his team and strike out to hunt a place of shelter. Luckily he found a house about nine o'clock P. M., by seeing the light of a candle in the window. He quickly ap- proached, and entering in, was supplied with supper, the first bite he had had to eat since four o'clock in the morning. Ile was nearly perished with cold, hunger and exhaustion, when he reached here, but a good meal and a night's rest restored him, and in the morning he went back to hunt up his property. He found the oxen in a hollow, walking around in a circle, one yoke following the other. He hitched them to the wagon and reached Lewis that day.

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IIISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

In May, 1855, the Western Stage Com- pany put a line of four horse coaches through from Des Moines to Council Bluffs on this road. G. S. Morrison kept the first station west of Dalmanutha, a distance of eighteen miles, without a house; the next station was J. R. Kirk's, twelve miles from Morrison's. Iranistan was the next. The early settlers of Cass county looked upon the advent of four horse coaches, at that time passing by their door, with more pride than would be shown now by the laying out of two or « three new railroads through the county.

The first settlers hauled their provisions principally from Rockport, Missouri, dis- tant one hundred and twenty-five miles; seventy-five miles of that distance was without a house. It took about three weeks with an ox team to make the trip. The first two years that I lived in Cass county, all the meat my family had was what my trusty rifle would kill. I spent but little time in hunting, yet was seldom without meat, it being no trouble to kill a deer or two almost any time I wanted to. Once, I counted forty-five deer in sight, while standing on the hill, near where Judge Dickerson's house now stands in Atlantic.

The coaches from Des Moines to Coun- cil Bluffs were on runners for thirteen weeks during that winter. Many of the lanes were filled with snow, and sleds run over the tops of the fences, as they were buried ont of sight. The thermometer was down to forty degrees below zero, two or three times during the winter, and the snow was three feet deep on the level, where not drifted. At one time there was

a heavy crust on it, and a common cur dog could catch any deer that he happened to spy, in the brush or timber, as the crust on the snow would carry the dog, but when the deer jumped, it went through and cut its legs and was soon overtaken.

July 4th, 1858, Cass county was visited with the highest water ever known. Nearly all the streams overflowed the en- tire bottom from bluff to bluff. Thomas and Nelson Prall were living in a small frame house on what was called Jim branch, on section 19 or 20, in Franklin township. . About ten o'clock at night, the water took the house off its foundation and carried it down stream some distance, when it struck some object, and was mash- ed to pieces. Nelson Prall and his wife and two of his children and a child of Thomas Prall's were overwhelmed in the raging waters and drowned. Thomas Prall swam with his wife holding to him, until he came to two trees growing to- gether. He caught hold of the branches and he and his wife climbed into the fork formed by the trees and remained there until daylight, when they made their way to George Magee's, about three quarters of a mile distant. All this time neither had anything on except their night clothes. All the neighbors turned out in search of the bodies of those drowned and by the evening of the 5th, all of them were found and buried. Turkey Grove presented a sorry sight, there being clothing, beds, bedding, and household and kitchen fur- niture, strung along the Jim branch, for more than a mile through the timber. At Albert Wakefield's mill on Turkey creek, just below the mouth of the branch, the

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

water rose twenty-tliree feet in three hours. I do not believe there was a bridge left in the county. Charles Baldwin, the county clerk, was drowned the morning of the 5th, in trying to swim across Seven Mile creek, near Gaylord's Grove, in Union township, a stream that a man could step across in dry weather.

In the spring of 1859, the "gold fever" broke out in Cass county, and took a num- ber of people to Pike's Peak, as it was then called, but most of them came back before arriving there, as at first, it appear- ed to be a humbug. During the summer of 1859 and spring of 1860, the people as- certained that there was gold there in pay- ing quantities, and a large part of the able bodied inhabitants went to Denver and its vicinity. Some stayed and made money, but the larger portion came back with but very little.

From 1858 until 1864, times were very bard and money was very scarce: Many persons that owned land enough to make two or three good farms, could not raise money enough to pay their taxes. In the spring and summer of 1862, you could buy a good cow for from eight to ten dollars. During that year I hauled two loads of wheat to Council Bluffs, and sold it for thirty seven and half cents per bushel, taking a two hundred pound sack of salt at $9 00, and the balance in groceries. There was no money in the county and people had to live on what their farms produced. The settlers parched wheat for coffee, and when they wanted a change parched peas, if they had them. Dressed hogs sold in Des Moines and Council Bluffs at prices varying from one and a

quarter to two cents per pound. These places were our only markets. In the fall of 1862, Oliver Mills, at Lewis, and I, at Grove City, bought hogs for Stewart & IIaas, of Council Bluffs, paying from one and a half to one and three quarter cents per pound, gross. The fall of 1863, the same parties paid three cents, and in 1864, five and six cents. Those who had hogs to sell, at that time thought them- selves in luck, but those who bought store goods had to pay for them. The follow- ing prices will give some idea: Coffee, 55 cents per pound; tea, $2 to $2.50; prints, 40 to 48 cents per yard, and others in like proportion.

The spring of 1868, brought the build- ers of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pa- cific Railroad through the county, and made money plenty and opened a sale for Our surplus potatoes, etc. George Conrad and I, each had a store at Grove City, but the building of the railroad brought other stores as well as saloons. Among the former were, J. W. Winslow, now of the Atlantic National Bank, dry goods, and groceries; P. Kearney, groceries; Mont- gomery & Wynkoop, drugs; P. Kirby, boots and shoes, as well as son:e others. Grove City, at that time had great expect- ations of getting a depot, but by Septem- ber all these were gone, and the depot established on the prairie, where Atlantic now stands, and in about one year, Grove City was principally moved to Atlantic. FRUIT GROWING AND NURSERY BUSINESS.

The Spring of 1871, Silas and S. W. Wilson located at Grove City, and en- gaged in the Nursery business. Previous to this time there had been a number of orchards planted in the county, but for

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HISTORY. OF CASS COUNTY.

want of care and proper knowledge what varieties to plant, they were as a rule a failure. People generally supposed that varieties adapted to the same latitude in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York, would do well here, but in a few years found this to be a mistake. After the Wilson's got started they urged the farmers to plant apple trees of varieties they could recommend as iron clad, and the result has been that that the older settled part of the county now has plenty of apples. About 1875 the Wilson's dissolved part- nership. Silas Wilson then went into growing grape vines and seedlings and raised over half a million apple, pear and mulberry seedlings and has not got enough to supply the demand. He has built up the largest wholesale trade in this line of business west of New York, if not in the United States. S. W. Wil- son & Co. also raised large quantities of grape vines and seedling apple and cat- alpa trees as well as general nursery stock.

In 1878, R. D. McGeehon, of Atlantic, commenced raising small fruits and plants for sale, on about one and a half acres of ground. Nearly every one that saw what he was doing prophesied it would be a failure, as no one here had yet raised enough strawberries for family use, nev- ertheless he kept digging along for four years, when his trade outran his capital. He then gave up his business to his son- in-law, Ira M. Needles, who now has about twenty-five acres in strawberries, black- berries, raspberries, apple seedlings, grape cuttings and blackberry plants. Last spring his sales of plants was, of straw- berries 250,000 ; blackberries, 20,000 ;

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Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918