USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 35
USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 35
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the bill admitting Iowa into the Union as a state. At that time all the northwestern part of the state was unorganized territory, or was included in the old County of Fayette, which had been established by the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin in December, 1837. Fayette was probably the largest county ever established in the United States. It extended from the Mississippi River west to the White Earth River and north to the British possessions, embracing all the present State of Minnesota, Northwestern Iowa and all of North and South Dakota east of the White Earth and Missouri rivers, with a total area of 140,000 square miles. How- ard County was included in the County of Fayette.
THE ORGANIC ACT
On January 15, 1851, Governor Stephen Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature creating fifty new counties out of the unorganized territory in the western portion of the state. None of the counties created by the act of 1851 was organized for some time afterward. Scattered over the vast territory was a solitary settler here and there, but in none of the counties was the population sufficient to justify a county organization. It was not until almost two years later that the first permanent settler located in Howard County. Meanwhile the tide of immigration was pouring into Iowa and as early as January 12, 1853, Governor Hempstead approved an act for the organization of counties, which act contained the following provisions :
"Whenever the citizens of any unorganized county desire to have the same organized, they may make application by petition in writing signed by a majority of the legal voters of said county, to the county judge of the county to which such unorganized county is attached, whereupon the said county judge shall order an election for county officers in such unorganized county.
"A majority of the citizens of any county, after becoming so organized, may petition the district judge in whose judicial district the same is situated, during the vacation of the General Assembly, whose duty it shall be to appoint three commissioners from three different adjoining counties, who shall proceed to locate the county seat for such county, according to the provisions of this act," etc.
It is probable that Howard County, prior to organization, was attached to Chickasaw County for judicial and governmental purposes. In the record of the March term of the Chickasaw County Court, 1855, appears the following :
"Ordered, that Howard County be divided into two election districts, dividing the same into an eastern and a western district, from a line drawn north and south through the center of the county. And that an election be held on the first Monday of April, to elect two justices of the peace and two constables in each precinct. Election to be held at the house of W. S. Pettibone, in the western district, and at the house of George Schofield in the eastern district."
This election was held accordingly. The poll book for the western district contains the following record :
POLL BOOK OF HOWARD COUNTY, IOWA
I, John Geer; 2, A. Pooler; 3, William S. Pettibone: 4, A. S. Butters ; 5, William P. Hough ; 6, James Hall.
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TALLY LIST
For justices of the peace-William S. Pettibone, 6 votes ; John Harlow, 6 votes. For constables-A. S. Butters, 6 votes ; John Brown, 6 votes.
At an election at the house of W. S. Pettibone, in Howard Township, Howard County, State of Iowa, on the 2d day of April, A. D. 1855, there were six ballots cast, as follows :
Justices of the peace-William S. Pettibone, 6 votes; John Harlow, 6 votes. Constables-A. S. Butters, 6 votes ; John Brown, 6 votes.
A true return,
A. POOLER, W. S. PETTIBONE, A. S. BUTTERS, Judges of Election.
Attest :
WILLIAM P. HOUGH, .
JAMES HALL,
Clerks of the Election.
The original petition which was presented to Judge Lyon of Chickasaw County at the July term of the County Court, 1855, follows :
"To the Honorable County Judge of Chickasaw County :
"The undersigned legal voters of Howard County respectfully ask your honor to take the necessary steps to effect the organization of said Howard County at the coming August election : .
"And your petitioners will ever pray : "JOHN ODEEN, "JAMES W. SNIDER, "GEORGE DUFFY, "NYE CUSHING."
"JAMES MAHOOD,
There was considerable opposition to the organization of the county at this particular time, but before those who were opposed could formulate a plan of preventing the action, the petition was presented, the various formalities accom- plished, and the order of court organizing the county issued. On the record book of the county judge is the following :
"A petition was presented to me on the 17th day of July, 1855, for organizing Howard County.
"Ordered, that the same be granted and an election be held at the houses of W. S. Pettibone and G. W. Schofield, in said county, to elect a county judge ; sheriff ; recorder and treasurer ; prosecuting attorney ; coroner ; surveyor ; school fund commissioner, and a district clerk, and that Edmund Gillett be organizing sheriff to call the election on the first Monday of August, 1855.
"JAMES LYON, County Judge."
The election was held as ordered and the county officers chosen were :
James G. Upton, county judge; Edmund Gillett, clerk ; William Woodward, recorder and treasurer; John Harlow, sheriff; M. V. Burdick, prosecuting at- torney.
The balance of authority in the government of the county in these days rested in the County Court, and in many counties of Iowa, this court became very un- popular, due principally to the fact that the county judge had too much power and often misused his right. The County Court, consequently, was doomed to
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failure at its inception. Until the year 1869 this body continued to transact busi- ness in the state civil divisions, although the power invested at first was gradually lessened. . It was during the winter of 1859-60 that an act was passed by the General Assembly, which was approved by the governor, changing the mode of local government and creating the board of supervisors of the county. This board took charge of all the powers formerly vested in the County Court, excepting the issuance of marriage licenses, probate matters and civil cases. Thus, it will be seen, from the year 1860 until 1869, the duties of the County Court were largely nominal. However, in its relation to Howard County, there were many trans- actions of this court which are of historical interest.
The first entry upon the record of the new county judge was made September 15, 1855, and is an order of the court to pay D. B. Cook & Company, of Chicago, $126.00 for books and stationery for the use of the county. The court also or- dered the purchase of a desk for the clerk.
The first road in the county to be regularly laid out and surveyed is noted in 1857, when John C. Miles was paid for surveying road number one. A state road was built through the southern part of the county during the same year. Prior to this time roads existed merely as trails and footpaths which wound a rambling way across the prairies and through the timber, sometimes marked and some- times, in fact oftener, not marked.
The following County Court record of July, 1857, pertaining to the first dis- cussion of railroad matters, is of particular interest :
"State of Iowa,
"County of Howard.
"In pursuance of the code of Iowa, and at the request of a portion of the people of said county, an election is hereby ordered to be held in the several townships in said County of Howard, on the third day of August, A.D., 1857, at the places where the last April elections were held, to vote upon the question, whether the said County of Howard should take $150,000 of the stock of the Northwestern Railroad Company, and issue bonds in payment therefor, bearing interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, the principal sum to be paid in twenty years. And that a tax be levied upon the taxable property of said county for the payment of principal and interest. The said railroad company to pay the interest on said bonds, until said road is in operation to the east line of said County of Howard. Said bonds to be issued when said road shall be in operation to Decorah, Winneshiek County, and permanently located to the west line of Howard County.
"The form of the vote shall be: 'For the Railroad Stock.' 'Against the Rail- road Stock.'
"Every affirmative vote shall be considered for the proposition entire.
"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said county, this first day of July, A.D., 1857.
(Seal)
"JAMES G. UPTON, County Judge."
At the October term of court the judge placed the following as the rate of taxation : county tax, five mills on the dollar ; state tax, 11/2 mills ; road tax, 11/2 mills ; school tax, 11/2 mills. Bounties on wolf and wildcat scalps were frequently paid during this year, showing that at this period of the county's history the set- tlers were molested by these animals-and many other species.
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As a matter of interesting record, under date of August 4, 1860, a license was issued to Cook's Circus to exhibit at New Oregon. This was undoubtedly the first circus to show in the county.
CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT
In the year 1861 the county judge was deprived of the greater part of his governing authority, as described before, and there came into existence the board of supervisors, consisting of one member from each of the organized townships. On January 7, 1861, the first board met to transact business. The following named composed the ruling body :
J. W. Barrel, of Albion Township; G. W. Ostrander, of Howard Township; T. R. Perry, of Howard Center; T. Griffin, of Paris Township; S. W. Seeley, of Jamestown Township ; J. H. Boggess, of Afton Township ; S. Radford, of Chester Township; M. Niles, of Iowa River (Oakdale) ; C. M. Munson, of New Oregon Township; W. Strother, of Vernon Springs Township; C. A. Salmon, of Sara- toga Township; S. L. Cary, of Forest City Township.
At the first meeting of the board the following resolutions were adopted, which comprised the first official business of the new members :
"Resolved, By the Board of Supervisors of Howard County, that having examined the contract entered into, by and between Darius Seeley, county judge, and the Northern Iowa Railroad Company, for the conditional conveyance of the swamp lands of said county, to aid in the construction of such road, that the said contract hereby meets and has our entire approval.
"Also, Resolved, That a suitable person be sent to the meeting of the bond- holders, meeting in Milwaukee, of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, and also a meeting of the directors of the Northern Iowa Railroad, January 18, 1861, to look after the interests of the county."
That the new board of supervisors found their duties handicapped in many ways is indicated by the fact that the committee, which had been appointed to examine the record books of the county judge, found the same to be in such con- fusion and disorder that it was impossible to audit them or decipher the various entries. Such things as official records were not regarded seriously in that day ; even the recorder's records were written on loose sheets of paper.
The first financial affairs of the county are well presented in the first treas- urer's report which is in existence, that of June 1, 1862. This follows :
COUNTY FUND
To cash in treasury at last report $ 17.89
Amount collected since 2,173.71
Amount warrants issued 632.22
$2,823.82
By county warrants redeemed
$2,611.00
By cash in treasury 212.82
$2,823.82
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STATE TAX FUND
To amount in treasury, last report $ 124.59
To amount collected since 737.86
To amount due A. M. McCowan 12.13
$ 874.58
By disbursements $ 874.58
COUNTY SCHOOL FUND
To amount in treasury last report $ 444.23
To amount collected since 544.74
$ 988.97
By disbursements
831.60
Cash in treasury
157.37
$ 988.97
POLL TAX FUND
To amount collected to date $ 90.40
By amount transferred to general county fund. 90.40
BRIDGE FUND
To cash in treasury, last report
$ 24.54
To cash collected since 227.86
$ 252.40
By amount transferred to general county fund $ 252.40
FEDERAL TAX 1861
To amount collected to date $ 227.41
By amount in treasury 227.41
At the January session, 1863, a resolution was adopted by the board, donating all swamp lands belonging to the county to aid in the construction and equip- ment of the McGregor Western Railroad, on condition, that the aforesaid rail- road should build a road from North McGregor, westward, to intersect the said county, from east to west. The resolution was to be submitted to a vote of the people, for ratification, at the next general election. At this election, October 19, 1863, the people favored the proposition by a large majority.
By 1863 the finances of the county had reached a more satisfactory point. as evidenced by the treasurer's report of that year. This follows:
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CHICKASAW AND HOWARD COUNTIES
To cash on hand, last report $ 17.89
To amount collected during year 34,351.72
$34,369.61
By warrants redeemed $22,934.78
By cash refunded
24.62
By delinquent county tax 9,225.67
By rebatable county tax 454.39
By delinquent bridge tax 975.12
By rebatable bridge tax 19.38
By delinquent poll tax 443.00
By rebatable poll tax
292.75
Total
$34,369.61
However, the report of the treasurer in November, 1867, is not so optimistic. It is
Indebtedness of the county to date $25,580.07
Deducting the amount of tax due and uncollected 10,125.00
Leaving a debt of
$15,455.07
A ROBBERY
Of the several occasions when the county has suffered financial loss by theft, the first occurred March 15, 1868, when burglars entered the county treasurer's office and stole $13,000 worth of securities from the safe. The board of super- visors immediately offered a reward of $2,000 for the recovery of the money and conviction of the thief or thieves, or $1,000 for either. Detectives, headed by the noted Allan Pinkerton, were detailed on the case, but failed to catch the criminal. No trace of the guilty man was ever discovered.
In July, 1869, at a special meeting, the board of supervisors decided to with- draw all litigation between the county and the McGregor Western Railroad, leav- ing the swamp lands, the source of the trouble, in the hands of the railroad com- pany, on condition that the railroad put a station at the Town of Chester.
In 1870 the board of supervisors of the county was changed to three members, elected from supervisors' districts, instead of a member from each township, which had proved cumbersome. The Legislature allowed the counties the privi- lege of increasing the number to five, so the board passed a resolution to submit to the people of the county at the next general election the question of making the board consist of five members instead of three. The result was a board of three members at the January session of 1871.
COURTHOUSE FIRE
On December 1, 1876, the county courthouse at Cresco was destroyed by fire. The Howard County Times reported the fire as follows :
-
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CHICKASAW AND HOWARD COUNTIES
"On Friday morning last, December Ist, the county courthouse and county records were destroyed by fire. The flames were discovered at little after twelve o'clock, Thanksgiving night. The festivals in Lyric Hall, and Dr. Price's Hall, with the supper in Caward's Building (all in the vicinity of the courthouse), kept a large number of our citizens up later than usual. A number of young men and young ladies, returning from the supper room about midnight, discovered the fire and gave the alarm. One of the number, John G. Stradley, having the key to the treasurer's office, opened the door and entered the room with others. There was then no fire in the treasurer's office. Mr. Stradley opened the little side door between the offices of the treasurer and auditor, and looking carefully into the latter, discovered that there was no fire therein. A further examination revealed a fire in the floor of the courtroom above, immediately over the blind door in the partition, between the hallway and the auditor's office, on the hall side, in line with, but not over the marshal's lantern, which was lighted and hanging in its usual place.
"The door on the south side of the courtroom (in the second story), was then broken in, but the room was then so full of smoke that M. L. Luther, who first entered it, was prostrated to the floor, and had to crawl out on his hands and knees. The smoke and heat were so intense that it was impossible to obtain ingress to remove and save the books, records and office fixtures, contents of the courtroom which the hungry flames soon devoured. Only a few days before the clerk of the courts had his books, records and office fixtures moved to the room above, for greater convenience during the session of the courts, and with the in- tention of making it his permanent office, leaving his old room in the southwest corner for the use of the sheriff, juries, etc. Thus it happened that nearly all of the court records were destroyed by the fire.
"The recorder and auditor being absent, their offices were broken into and all their valuable records saved, as well as those of the treasurer, and all of the con- tents of the safes of the treasurer, auditor and recorder have been found well preserved, except in some instances slightly discolored and the bindings injured. * * The loss cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. The money, real estate records, and all other valuable books and papers, except the court records, as before stated, were saved. The loss of the latter will cause great inconvenience and perhaps litigation, but it is probable that the means may be found to effect a
restoration of most of them. * * The property was insured for $3.500, as follows: $1,000 in the Etna, on the building, for the benefit of the courthouse association ; $1,000 in the same company on the records, and $1,500 in the Home, of New York, on the furniture, fixtures, etc.
"The cause of the fire is unknown, some attributing it to accident and others to incendiarism. Some seem to have almost positive convictions that it was the work of an incendiary, and give reasons for their opinion, which it would not be advisable to publish. It seems to be the general opinion, however, that the care- less habit of throwing cigar stumps on the floor is responsible for the fire. A lighted cigar would light a fire that would smoulder for hours in the thick mat- ting, with which a part of the courtroom was spread. A strip of this matting was immediately over the place where the fire was first discovered."
Later developments caused many people to connect the fire with the Frank Kyte defalcation, but the truth of this conjecture has never been proved.
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COUNTY SEATS AND COURTHOUSES
It has been stated before that the question of organizing the county first was agitated by the settlers in the summer of 1855. The settlers were few and the most of them did not favor the expense and trouble of maintaining a county government. There were probably not over one hundred and fifty residents in the county then. However, some five or six persons drew up a petition and sent it to Judge Lyon, in Chickasaw County, praying that an order be issued from his court for the organization of Howard County. Judge Lyon was not aware of the whole truth of the matter, that the majority of Howard County people were not friendly to the proposition, and decided to make the order requested, which he did July 17, 1855. An election was ordered and held, with Edmund Gillett as the sheriff in charge of the proceedings. The people quietly accepted the new state of affairs and resolved to make the best of their new responsibility. Their logical thought, after the election of officers had been disposed of, was the probable location of the county courthouse. Vernon Springs, two miles south- west of Cresco on the Turkey River, was the home of many of the settlers and here seemed to be the best location for the seat of justice. In 1856 Judge Upton, of the County Court, decided that for the time being this place should be con- sidered the county seat. However, in September of the same year, Judge Upton issued an order, countersigned by Edmund Gillett, clerk, "that the records of Howard County be removed from Vernon Springs, in said county, to Howard Center, and that the courts of said county be hereafter holden at said Howard Center, until otherwise ordered." The community of Howard Center was five miles directly west of Cresco. The judge's order was obeyed that autumn and all the county's official property was transported to Howard Center.
Here the government remained but a short time, as rival claims quickly appeared. New Oregon, two miles farther down Turkey River from Vernon Springs, had gained much prominence and was a strong competitor with the latter town for the site of the courthouse. Both towns had good water power and good settlements had been made around each. Finally, when the strife grew particularly bitter, the county judge appointed M. V. Burdick, G. N. Holbrook and George Bronson as a committee to study the question and relocate the county seat at such a point as best suited to the majority of the people. Their first investigations were in the center of the county, then they went to Vernon Springs and New Oregon, where they were assailed from both sides by claims of superi- ority. The New Oregonites procured a carriage and directed a young attorney, WV. R. Mead, to drive the committee through the country, in order to prove that New Oregon was the logical place, being the center of population, etc. Mead shrewdly drove over into Winneshiek County and pointed out the settlements there as part of Howard County, which information the unthinking commissioners absorbed. They returned to New Oregon with their minds made up to locate the county seat there, but were again met by a Vernon Springs delegation. The com- mittee was again between two fires, and as they could not give the courthouse to one without making an enemy of the other, decided to locate the county seat at a point called Pike's Peak, a bluff equidistant from both, on the main road leading from one to the other, provided that the subscription, which had been started for the construction of a courthouse, should be applied to the building of
COURTHOUSE, CRESCO
PUBLIC LIBRARY, CRESCO
Vol. 1-25
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the house at the point named. These terms were accepted and the commissioners designated Pike's Peak as the county seat. The courthouse was constructed in February, 1859, at this spot, by subscriptions raised by citizens of both Vernon Springs and New Oregon.
In 1865 the basswood building between the two towns became unsafe as a repository for the county records. At the meeting of the board in September, 1865, the following resolution was passed :
"Whereas, The building now occupied by the county officers of Howard County has become so dilapidated by age as to render it unfit for office purposes, and an unsafe repository for the records of said county"; the resolution continuing to state that the county had been offered the use of a building located in Vernon Springs and owned by L. L. Halstead. This structure was of stone and was much better fitted for the use of the county officers. Here the board resolved to move the courthouse fixtures, records, etc. The supervisors met in Vernon Springs in October, but owing to the opposition of the New Oregon people the court- house was not moved there. At this session the people of New Oregon met the offers of the Vernon Springs people by a counter-offer to build a brick courthouse at New Oregon and give it to the county in return for the location of the county seat.
The efforts of the two towns were soon to be weakened by the appearance of a new factor in the struggle-the rapidly growing and prosperous Cresco, a railroad town, and with the most promising outlook of any. At the board meet- ing of January, 1867, the first intimation was given that Cresco was in the field for the honors, and in a few days a petition was presented. praying for the loca- tion of the county seat at Cresco and offering to construct a brick courthouse free of cost to the county. The supervisors were invited to inspect the proposed site in Cresco, and accepted. The welcome in Cresco was so cordial that the super- visors hastened to inscribe upon their records the following :
"Resolved, By the board of supervisors of Howard County, that the proposi- tion of Messrs. Beadle and others to build a courthouse and furnish it, free of any expense to the county, and also to provide a hall for the meetings of the board, and for court purposes, be and is hereby accepted ; the sheriff is directed to remove the records, etc., at the time contemplated, viz. : On or before June 1, 1867."
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